P20 killer policeman gets 20 years in jail

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Thursday November 25, 2010 00:00

High Court Judge David Newman yesterday sentenced Tiisang Tsamaesi to 20 years for the murder of Tebogo Besson in March this year.

The facts of the case are that on the night before the murder, Tsamaesi and Besson had misunderstandings and insulted each other while they were out drinking at different bars in Tsabong.

The court heard that the following day, Tsamaesi reported for duty but was excused from work, as he was not in sound health. However, Tsamaesi decided to stick around and when another colleagues could not be located to escort pension  officers to go and pay Old Age Pension at Kokotsha village, he offered to do so.

At this juncture, Tsamaesi asked to be issued with the AK47 service rifle, which he used to kill Besson. The court was told that before the journey began, Tsamaesi is said to have asked the pension officer and the driver to pass by his house so he could collect P20 he (Tsamaesi) needed for his special diet.

Pension officers who were escorted by Tsamaesi are said to have tried to make arrangements to lend him the P20 but he turned down the offer. 

They proceeded to the district commissioner's offices upon which Tsamaesi called Besson to come to the office.

When she arrived, Tsamaesi is said to have requested P20 from her and when she insisted that she did not have it, Tsamaesi went to the vehicle, took out the AK47 rifle and shot at Besson but missed.

Besson then run into the offices but Tsamaise followed her, and shot her three times first in the back shoulder blade, secondly in the right pelvis and in the left medial thigh.

Court also heard that after shooting her, Tsamaise fled the scene and wrote three suicide notes in which he was bidding farewell to his loved ones.

Delivering judgement, Newman said defence attorney Philemon Leitshamo had submitted that a combination of factors, which included Besson's perceived infidelities and Tsamaise's young age, which resulted in the latter being consumed by jealous and irrational thoughts. Leitshamo, therefore, urged the court not to impose the mandatory death sentence.

On the other hand, state counsel Gopolang Tlhabologang asked court to regard as aggravating features, the fact of Tsamaise's position as a police officer, his premeditated decision to kill Besson and the calculating manner in which he executed the decision.

Newman also agreed with Tlhabologang when he said there was nothing to suggest that at 22 years of age, Tsamaise should be regarded as a callow youth, particularly regarding the fact that he had been deemed a fit and proper person to be appointed a soldier.

'Indeed, his status as a police constable should be viewed as a aggravating factor when one considers he was guilty of terrorising the very same community he was employed to protect,' Newman said.

He however stated that the apparent misconduct of his girlfriend distressed him and led him to believe that he was being victimised. 'Although it was not raised by the defence counsel, it seems to me that his state of anxiety and irrational thoughts were heightened by the effect of strong liquor and that these factors combined to deadly effect,' Newman said.

In sentencing Tsamaise, Newman noted that the accused was 22 years of age, was of previous good character and the sole breadwinner for his mother and siblings. 'In addition, the manner in which he pleaded guilty to his crime indicates that he was conscience-stricken by his actions,' Newman said.

The judge ordered that the AK47, the magazine and the live cartridge be returned to the Botswana Police Service through the investigating officer.

At the end of his judgement Newman praised the investigating officer, assistant superintendent Daniel Moleseng of Tsabong Police Station, for a job well done. Newman said it was never heard of in Botswana that a crime committed in March was completed in November of the same year. He congratulated Moseleng and prayed that other investigators would follow suit.