BOTSWANA COURT SENTENCES TWO TO DEATH

March 7, 2008: two men, including a South African national, were sentenced to death by a court in Botswana for the murder of two Zimbabwean citizens eight years ago. Judge Dibotelo Dibotelo of the Lobatse High Court rejected mitigation pleas by the defence counsel for Michael Molefe and his Botswanan co-accused Kgotso Brendon Samson. Molefe was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder, as well as five years imprisonment for possession of a weapon. Victim Robert Ncube killed Molefe's aunt in South Africa in 1995. Dibotelo said Molefe entered Botswana in 2000 with weapons concealed in a television set. The weapon used to commit the murder was found at Molefe's place after the murder. The judge said that both Molefe and Samson knew what they were doing as they fled after committing the murder.
Defence lawyers said they would appeal the sentences. The appeals should be considered at a hearing in six weeks' time. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 07/03/2008)