•Armed robbers get 14-year prison sentence
Justice has finally been served for a couple brutalised, traumatized and humiliated by four armed robbers three years ago
Village Magistrate court senior Magistrate, Tshepo Thedi on Wednesday sentenced half of the gang to 14 years imprisonment for armed robbery and entry into Botswana through an ungazetted point of entry.
The two convicts Evans Sibanda, David Butheledzi and two others not before the court in October 2019 robbed a couple (names known to this publication) at their home in the most degrading way.
The four men broke into the couple’s home, tied up the naked couple before robbing them.
Armed with knives, spade, digging fork, axe and machete the robbers got away with the couple’s car, Pink Samsung note 4, black Samsung J4, black nokia cellphone, black samsung laptop, silver iPad, black Lenovo tablet, gold samsung galaxy A8, black Huawei P10, black 55 inch Hisense, 11 cisco phones, Hp CPU, Navy custom suit, two travel bags, brown chocolate Hugo boss 3 piece suit, ladies brown blazer, and immediately before or immediately after that threatened to kill them should they not cooperate.
Giving evidence during trial, the woman told the court that she had locked all the doors and windows of their home on the day before they both retired to bed.
It is her evidence that somewhere around 0300 hrs, she heard a loud noise by the door entrance of their bedroom.
She then saw four men entering their bedroom in possession of knives, stones, digging fork and spade.
They tried to scream but the robbers who then went on to tie their hands.
According to the man, “Their bedroom door was hit forcefully until it opened and woke them up. It is his evidence that as they tried to scream the four men demanded that they keep quite. They demanded all their cell phones, bankcards and ATM pin numbers that they surrendered. It is his evidence that the robbers threatened to kill them in the event the pin numbers were incorrect. The two left the house to the ATM in order to do cash transaction leaving behind the other two being the 1st and the 2nd accused persons to guard or watch over the couple.
For their defence both accused admitted that they did not have passports or travelling documents and that they had indeed entered Botswana unlawfully but they both denied taking part in the robbery or any other robbery for that matter.
However this was in contrast with their earlier admission to the police.
They both claimed in court that on the night of the robbery they were at their respective homes with their girlfriends only to be picked up by the police and slapped with charges.
They further told the court that the state had failed to link them to the crime, let alone link them to the stolen goods.
When delivering his ruling, the Magistrate said, “It is clear from the evidence that the two accused persons stole the items listed or in question in concert with his accomplice David Butheledzi. The two accused led the police to a crime scene or a place where the offence took place.”
“From the evidence adduced by the prosecution, the alibi was fabricated, and it’s an afterthought defence, in that both accused persons did not disclose their alibi to the police when they were arrested. The court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that both accused persons committed these offences.”
In the end the two men received four years in jail suspended sentence for entry at an ungazetted point in the country.
“Botswana is experiencing a large influx of illegal migrants crossing boarders in unprecedented numbers. The current situation poses a challenge for both Botswana Government and its society. As a result, we are experiencing a severe rise in crime rate and loss of finances in deporting illegal migrants like these convicts.”
For robbery the Magistrate sentenced the men to 10 years each in prison.
