BOTSWANA: MURDER CONVICT LOSES APPEAL AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE

July 29, 2009: Zimbabwean citizen Gerald Dube is set to hang in Botswana after his appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
He was sentenced to hang by a Francistown High Court  judge for killing Francistown lawyer, Patricia Majoko, her children Dumisani and Amotjilani and their maid, Lindiwe Ncube, in September 2001. The judges said Majoko’s murder was motivated by anger at the challenges she had wrought on his life.
The judges found that there were motives for killing Patricia after she expelled Dube from work. "The expulsion had deprived Dube of his employment at Patricia's firm and his accommodation. It uprooted him from the lifestyle that was comfortable and which gave him the opportunity to convey the impression of some success and importance in his social circle. The disruption could well have angered him," the judges concluded. (Sources: Sunday Standard, 30/07/2009)