FRANCISTOWN: Two men, Otsetswe Ramaretwa (23) and Obusitswe Mosalalowa (25) who both faced a single charge of defilement, walked out of the magistrate court as free men on Thursday morning.The duo were facing charges of defilement of one Chawada Engleton in 2007 at Gerald Estate. When giving his judgement on both cases, Senior Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu said his ruling affected the duo's cases because they both had had carnal knowledge of Engleton from January to May 2007.
He said both accused pleaded not guilty to the offence they were charged with on the grounds that they were not aware of her age:"On the material date between January to May 2007, both of you had intimate relationships with Chawada and you sometimes used protection," he said.Mulalu added the fact that the girl fell pregnant was not in dispute as she gave birth to a boy in 2008. He said the forensic laboratory results proved that Ramaretwa fathered the child:"After the child was born, the investigating officer on the case, Detective Sergeant Babuyi Tsatsi, gave evidence that he took Chawada to a dental specialist whose results estimated Chawada's age to be over 18 years in 2008" said Mulalu.Mulalu said that was the reason he asked for time to look further into the case to determined if the duo had a case to answer to or not.
