Trial dates for a 2018 defilement case involving an elderly neighbor of Samedupi settlement have once again been reset after the matter suffered yet another setback last Thursday.
Having dragged on before Maun Magistrates’ Court over the last three years due to several postponements, the trial was finally due to begin on Thursday and continue through till Friday.
However, the latest bump was hit last week when the accused, Peter Keakopa’s attorney, failed to turn up to court, forcing the matter to go on ice again until 9th May when another trial date will be set.
“The accused person’s attorney is not in court as he is attending to another trial matter before Francistown High Court,” explained Botswana Police Service Prosecutor, Paul Basupi.
48-year-old Keakopa is accused of defiling a mentally-challenged 11-year-old girl at his house back in 2018.
The youngster had reportedly been sent by her aunt to ask Keakopa for cooking oil.
Describing the alleged attack, the girl told of how the man undressed her, defiled her and then threatened her to silence.
Initially, the trial was to commence in November 2020, but was postponed to allow both Keakopa and the child to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
The results indicated she was ‘an imbecile’. However Keakopa, who has since maintained his innocence, was found to be mentally fit to stand trial.
After a lengthy wait for the evaluation report, the case was further stalled when the report went missing from the police’s desk.
When a copy was finally located, the police prosecution changed the charge from rape to ‘defilement of an imbecile’.
By this point, Keakopa was nowhere to be found, missing consecutive court dates in June and August, 2022, which led to a warrant of arrest being issued against him.
However, the suspect’s attorney insisted he was in fact to blame for his client’s absence.
A trial date was then set for 28th October of the same year, but this fell by the wayside as the magistrate was unable to take ‘new’ trials at that point as he was due to go on extended leave.
The matter was then scheduled for 9th – 10th March, only for the latest hiccup to once again stall the wheels of justice.
