Give Ntwaagae 17 years - State

Ntwaagae was convicted on a single count of murder with extenuating circumstances. The court is thus compelled to give any sentence other than death, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for any person convicted of murder. 

Yesterday, Lesedi Seloka from the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) called on the court not to lose sight of the uniformity maintained by the courts in similar cases.  Seloka was responding to submissions made by defence attorney, Shame Taimu to the effect that there were exceptional extenuating circumstances hence urged the court to impose a non custodial sentence. Taimu invoked Section 27 (4) of the Penal Code, which outlines what constitutes exceptional extenuating circumstances.