Arguing his case before the appeals court judges this morning, Mampori who is on death row, told the court that his victim called him a ‘useless Mokalaka’ and that he was supporting a child that’s not his. He was appearing before a bench was made up of Justices Chris Gabanagae (acting), Leatile Dambe and Reuben Lekorwe. The former Botswana Defence Force commando allegedly murdered four women whom mostly were suspected to be his girlfriends. In his latest appeal, Mampori is attempting to overturn the sentence for the murder of Tshwarelo Moruti who he stabbed 12 times, further hitting her with a stone back in 2019.
The convict, who is represented by attorney Phil Leitshamo, said he believes there are extenuating circumstances in his case. The High Court had ruled that there were no extenuating circumstances hence the death penalty. “We are appealing the sentence on two grounds. We believe there was misdirection by the lower court that there were no extenuating circumstances. “Secondly, the court did not exercise impartiality when it allowed emotions of a pathologist to influence its decision,” Leitshamo said. The attorney argued that there was misdirection by the High Court when it said there were no extenuating circumstances because the appellant indicated that there were utterances that provoked him. “The deceased said provocative things to the appellant that he took issues with as he was called useless Mokalaka and that the kid who all along he knew was his, was in actual fact not his child but he had been supporting,” Leitshamo argued. The appellant’s attorney added that they believe that there are extenuating circumstances because on the day of commission of the crime, Mampori was beyond drunk. “On the day of the inciden,t they were at the party of his niece and started drinking early in the morning. He also noted that he started taking marijuana, so with that he was drunk and intoxicated,” the attorney argued.
