High Court judge, Bashi Moesi sentenced Mooketsi Kgosibodiba, also known as Batista, to death after failing to find extenuating factors in the February 2, 2012 murder of Benjamin Makobela. Morris Ndawana, the accused’s attorney told Mmegi immediately after the verdict, that he was already working on appeals against both the conviction and the sentence. When sentencing Kgosibodiba on Monday, Moesi noted that the convict’s arguments and defence did not ring true. Facts led in court and accepted as true are that Makobela’s decomposing body was discovered inside a hut at Shangano ward in Makobo, which he shared with Kgosibodiba.
The pathologist who examined the body observed that there were injuries as well as medium sized maggots on the body after it was brought to Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital for postmortem, said Moesi. The death was proven to have been caused by strangulation, with indications that the act was done to cause death or grievous bodily harm. “The pathologist formed the opinion that the death occurred about three to four days prior to his examination of the body,” said Moesi.
