Robbery Convicts Granted Leave To Appeal

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FRANCISTOWN: Two men convicted of robbery succeeded on Wednesday in their bid to be heard at the Court Appeal (CoA) albeit only on one of the two grounds they proffered.

The Francistown Magistrate’s Courts had sentenced the duo of Oteng Chapson and Ronny Siziba, to 10 years each in jail in 2016. Chapson and Siziba then approached the Francistown High Court seeking leave to appeal both their convictions and sentences at the CoA. In one of their grounds to appeal their convictions and sentences, the applicants say that the trial court did not afford them a fair trial because it did not fully explain to them their rights to cross-examine state witnesses and a Case Management Conference (CMC) was not held which is contrary to Section 51 of the Magistrate’s Court Act.

It must be noted, Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe said, the applicants were not represented at the trial court, but were represented in the current application when they initially made their application.

Editor's Comment
UDC's 100 Days: Please deliver your promises!

We duly congratulate them to have ousted the long ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power. Prior to taking power from the BDP, the coalition had made several election promises that are credited for influencing change and swaying the people to vote in its favour.The party had made an undertaking, which its leader and President Duma Boko consistently bellowed in his campaign trail. These undertakings were promises that Batswana would be...

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