Man gets 37 years for lover’s brutal killing
Although his peace-loving biblical namesake was famous for his great deeds in ancient Egypt, closer to home, Antonio Basipo Moses will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Convicted of battering his girlfriend to death with a wheel spanner in a premeditated, carefully planned attack, the 36-year-old will spend the next 37 years of his life locked away.
Monday’s sentence, seen as a show of intent in the battle against Gender Based Violence (GBV), a scourge that has soaked the land red for far too long, drew shocked gasps from the packed courtroom.
Although he protested his innocence, claiming self-defence, Francistown High Court ultimately found Moses guilty of the cold-blooded murder of Lesego Atlaelang Bashe, who was killed on 16 August 2021.
It was heard that on the day he became a murderer, Moses, a Clearance Agent at Regent Investment, borrowed a car from a friend on the pretence he was attending a breakdown in Tatisiding.
He left Francistown with Bashe, a well-known, well-liked figure from White City.
On the way, Moses turned off the A1 just before Tatisiding, leaving the main road for a gravel exit.
It is there that he beat his lover with merciless, unrelenting fury, before loading her broken body back into the car and making the 15km return journey to Francistown.
He had intended to leave Bashi’s corpse at her White City home but was disturbed by a tenant in the dead of night, woken-up by his car alarm going off. On investigating the noise, the lodger spotted Moses carrying the body into the house and immediately called the police.
Begging for a sympathy he never showed his dead lover, Moses told court he had lost the woman he intended to spend the rest of his life with – an argument that caused angry mutterings in the public gallery.
He also mentioned his ‘good character’, noting he was a first offender and a Christian who neither drinks alcohol nor smokes.
It was also pointed out he has two minor children (twins), born on 25 June 2024.
While he was spared the hangman’s noose, the convicted killer could not escape a lengthy spell in prison.
In sentencing, Judge Tshekiso Tshekiso noted the deceased died a brutal, painful death at the hands of her so called lover, in a sustained and devastating attack.
“Given the gravity of the offence, the circumstances under which it was committed, the personal circumstances of the accused like his age, and the public interest, I consider a prison term of 37 years imprisonment to meet the justice of the case,” ruled Justice Tshekiso.
