Prosecution blunder sets 'rape' appellant free

Keabetswe was a relieved man when a panel of three judges, Justice Isaac Lesetedi, Justice Leatile Dambe, and Justice Fritz Brand set him free on Friday after he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars in March 2021.

The charge According to court records, Keabetswe was convicted in the Magistrate's Court held at Gumare on a charge of rape for which the minimum sentence which was held to have been accompanied by violence, is 15 years imprisonment. Because this minimum sentence exceeded the sentencing jurisdiction of the Magistrate the appellant was committed to the High Court, before Justice Lot Moroka sitting in Maun. Moroka confirmed the conviction and sentenced the appellant to 15 years imprisonment hence Keabetswe approached the Court of Appeal. The charge against Keabetswe was that on September 29, 2012, in Gumare, he raped the complainant. At the trial, the witness statement of the complainant as well as the report by the medical practitioner who examined her after the event was introduced by consent of Keabetswe who appeared in person.