Freed prisoner back in the slammer

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday March 16, 2012 00:00

Mpho Molatlhegi (26) was arrested and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend in 2006. However, he was released on medical grounds after a doctors' report in 2009.'I had bone TB and my legs had been numb for five years,' Molatlhegi told Mmegi.

He said his health was restored after his family took him to traditional doctors. 'I came back to life,' Molatlhegi said. 'I was fine and up and about.' However, he was returned to prison eight months ago. His former jailers arrested him when they saw him in court where he had gone to give evidence in a certain matter and took him straight back to Mahalapye Prison. 'No consultation was done,' Molatlhegi says. 'They saw me there and said I was fit to go back to go to prison. I could not understand. They did not even consult doctors.'

Molatlhegi said he had complained to the prison commissioner and officials about his unlawful imprisonment, but never received a satisfactory answer. Contacted for comment, the public relations officer of Botswana Prison and Rehabilitation Service, Wamorena Ramolefhe, said Molatlhegi's case was not an irregularity as prisoners may be released for home-based care in terms of Section 58 (1) of the Prisons Act Cap 21:03 of the Laws of Botswana. This is because the prison service is often unable to care for terminally ill inmates and prefers sending them home to be ministered to by their families.

However, as soon as they have recovered, the prisoners are taken back to jail to continue their sentences.'One of his conditions for release was that upon recovery, Molatlhegi would be returned to prison to serve the remaining part of his sentence as per Section 58 (2) of the Prisons Act,' Ramolefhe said.