Defence cites loophole in Kalafatis appeal

The defendant was convicted of being an accessory after the fact of murder while his three colleagues were found guilty of the crime.

Making their submissions before a panel of three judges of Court of Appeal, lawyers representing the state security operatives convicted of the crime argued that Mothobi was not initially charged with being an accessory after the fact. One of the lawyers, Michael Hellens submitted that being an accessory after the fact is not a competent verdict provided for in the Botswana Criminal Procedure and Evidence in a charge of murder. He submitted that for Mothobi to have been convicted of an offence of being an accessory after the fact to murder, he needed first to have been charged with that offence.