Accused calls for bail review

MPHO MOKWAPE
Correspondent | Thursday June 6, 2013 00:00

Joina made the application on the grounds that the bail conditions set for his client are cumbersome seeing as he has lost both his passport and the national identity card.Gotswakgosi was granted bail during his previous appearance in court, provided he surrender his travel documents. He failed to do so, which meant he would remain in custody. Gotswakgosi, the first accused person together with five others, is accused of breaking into the offices of Premier Clothing Company and stealing including three laptops valued at P20,000, two safe boxes containing cash amounting to P602 and also cash in different foreign currencies. The crime was allegedly committed in April 2013.

Joina said his client is being treated prejudicially because he is incarcerated even though the prosecution knows that he is innocent until proven guilty.  Also, that the state failed to produce a strong case against him.He argued that the allegation in an affidavit produced by the prosecution that Gotswakgosi's history of residing in South Africa for the past three to four years making him a flight risk has nothing to do with the case at hand, especially since he is a Motswana and with a residential address.  He emphasised that he is not a flight risk.The prosecution further explained that the accused person has no residential plot as he claims to have, saying the one he referred to belongs to his mother whom he hasn't seen for several years.  Magistrate Joe Brown asked the accused person to file an affidavit of how his passport was lost and also to produce a police report on the matter.  The case was adjourned to June 14, 2013 for bail ruling.