Corpun file 17625

Mmegi, Gaborone, 20 April 2006

Thief, insults ... three on the buttocks

By Nomsa Ndlovu

A foul-mouthed youth learnt good manners the hard way when Go-Tawana tribal court gave him three lashes on his bare buttocks for insulting the cops.

Pebanyana Neo Samoxhibi (23) of Sedie ward, Maun moaned and groaned inside the court's lashing room as the tribal police disciplined him.

The court heard that on April 11, police officers Sgt Nzwaligwa and Constable Tlhage of Maun Police Station visited the accused's home in search of a suspect whom they found absent. They found Samoxhibi who refused to respond to their inquiries telling them to get out of the yard or else he was going to pour sh-t on them.

The prosecutor evidenced in court that the two insulted officers nabbed the accused after further saying to them, "Le nteba jaaka m-sepa, gape le tletse mas-pa". Samoxhibi pleaded guilty to the charge of public nuisance agreeing to every fact presented.

Summing up the case, headman Oleyo Ledimo told the accused that he was liable to one-year imprisonment. "However, because you are a first offender, I will only slap you with three lashes as a reminder that using vulgar language is a crime", he said.

At the same court, a thief who sneaked into a funeral tent and stole a mourner's bag was lashed three times and told to refund money equivalent to the defendant's unrecovered belongings. On March 31, Solomom Masake, 21, of Shashe ward in Maun went into the mourners' tent and snatched a bag belonging to Malebogo Mohapha, the court heard. After a while, Mahapha, who had seen the accused coming in and thought he was a mourner, discovered that his bag containing a jersey, spectacles and a cap were gone. He woke up and told other mourners about his ordeal and together they traced the suspect's footprints. The accused was found in a nearby house where only the jersey was recovered. Ledimo instructed Masake to make a refund to Mahapha within two weeks from the date of sentence failing which his belongings were to be confiscated by the state and auctioned to recover the costs. If he had nothing for the state to take, he would be sent to prison for one year. The jersey, which was exhibited in court, was returned to its owner.

© Mmegi, 2002

Corpun file 18339

Mmegi, Gaborone, 25 April 2006

Pilfering beer guzzler sobered

By Nomsa Ndlovu
Correspondent

Kgosi Charles Letsholathebe of Maun Main Kgotla sobered a beer guzzler with 5 lashes for pilfering 13 bottles of wine and guzzling them down his throat, within two days.

Hospitality and tourism student Thabo Tumagale of Maun Technical College's (MTC) insatiable thirst for the frothy stuff led him to break into the school beer storeroom through a window. The wine was kept for the purpose of training students in hotel catering and management, the court heard.

State Prosecutor Dikgang Dikgang of Maun Police told the court that investigating officers arrived at the scene of the incident a morning following the day in which Tumagale committed the crime. They took fingerprints from the broken window and later arrested the accused. Tumagale had taken the bottles to his house where he partied himself to sleep.

Bottles of different wine brands produced before the court were empty, except for one. However, Dikgang revealed that some of them were recovered from MTC staff members, who he named in court. "The two were interrogated and released because they denied knowledge that Tumagale had given them stolen wine", he said.

MTC was represented by Gaone Mokopakgosi, who on behalf of the school requested the court that the accused student, refund all the stolen wine in monetary value. The court was told that the wines cost P900,00. Delivering his judgment, Kgosi Letsholathebe spat venom at young Tumagale for abusing an opportunity to a bright future by drowning himself into alcohol. "Do you realise how this has put your name in criminal records and tainted your future forever", he fumed.

Letsholathebe however said that he was not going to jeopardise the youngster's future by sending him to jail. He considered the fact that he was a student and told him to refund the school's money within a period of three months. Tumagale was also given the remaining bottle of wine to booze himself for the last time.

© Mmegi, 2002