A 2019 Alliance for progressives (AP) council candidate for Gumare-Tubu ward in North West District, Taejoruavi Maekopo, who was recently convicted for raping a minor is yet to know his fate.
This week when his case returned before a Maun magistrates court, it was announced that he had been quarantined in Francistown and therefore could not make a court appearance.
However the Directorate of Public Prosecution stated before court that Maekopo has no previous convictions and therefore will be treated as a first offender when sentenced on a date yet to be announced.
“He has been taken for finger printing and it has been established that he has no record of previous convictions, therefore we plead he be treated as a first offender,” pleaded DPP’s Chedza Galeage.
Chief Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalo set the next court date for May 18th when Maekopo is expected to appear for mitigation before sentence is passed.
The 25- year -old Maekopo was convicted two weeks ago for a crime he is said to have committed when he was still a school boy at Maun Senior Secondary School in 2016.
He was found guilty of raping his then 12- year- old cousin at a family home in Maun and is therefore facing a possible 10-year jail time.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, all convicts are mandated to undergo a 14-day quarantine before being taken to prison.
In February this year at least 83.7 percent of prisoners locked at Maun state prison tested positive for COVID-19 and all prisoner appearances in court were suspended for over a month.
