Accused calls for bail review

The defense attorney Themba Joina, representing Tlamelo Gotswakgosi, yesterday made an application before the Extension Two Magistrate court to have the bail condition imposed on his client altered.

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.

Editor's Comment
Closure as pain lingers

March 28 will go down as a day that Batswana will never forget because of the accident that occurred near Mmamatlakala in Limpopo, South Africa. The tragedy affected not only the grieving families but the nation at large. Batswana throughout the process stood behind the grieving families and the governments of Botswana and South Africa need much more than a pat on the back.Last Saturday was a day when family members said their last goodbyes to...

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