The Gaborone High Court will tomorrow (Tuesday) sentence two men convicted for the murder of Thato Meswele in Oodi village in September 2015.
Nearly nine years after Thato Meswele’s tragic death, the Gaborone High Court has convicted Ernest Legwale and his hired hitman, Hamadi Mkhuha, for her murder.
The killers had mistakenly targeted Thato, intending to kill her elder sister, Dimpho Meswele, Legwale’s ex-wife.
This morning (July 29th), Legwale and Mkhuha attempted to convince the court, with superstitious overtones, that there were extenuating circumstances in their case.
Their brief presentations did not last for more than 20 minutes as their attorneys told court that Legwale believed that his ex-wife Dimpho and her mother were bewitching him and trying to kill him through traditional medicine.
Defence Attorney, David Ndlovu, said that the State witness, traditional doctor Wellington Mhatiwa testified that Legwale sought his services because he believed that his life was in danger and therefore needed to defend himself.
He added that Legwale’s marriage with Dimpho was falling apart and therefore his client believed that Dimpho’s family wanted him dead.
Letlhogonolo Makgane who was representing Mkhuha said that his client took part in the offence because he also believed in witchcraft and was assisting Legwale to resolve his marital problems.
“The couple had nothing good to say about each other and they were living as enemies in the same house. The traditional doctor’s testimony was that Accused Two was not happy that his medicine did not work and that he went back to him to complain that the medicine was not working,” he said.
Makgane said that Legwale’s ex-wife used muti on him that made him lose his job.
He said that the court should treat the convicts equally and apply the same sentence for both of them.
The DPP’s Merapelo Mokgosi said that the court should reject the reasons advanced by the convicts since Legwale has long distanced himself from the offence, whilst Mkhuha gave unsworn evidence that was never cross examined.
She said that their submissions were an afterthought and therefore there were no extenuating circumstances that compelled them to go and kill Thato Meswele.
They will submit their mitigating factors on tomorrow (Tuesday) before sentencing.
