Francistown High Court Judge Tshepo Motswagole on Monday dismissed a case in which Jack Ntu a middle aged man of Mapashalala lands in the Central District was appealing against sentence and conviction in a robbery case involving goods worth P90 985.
Ntu and two others were convicted and sentenced for the robbery of one Maria Elizabeth in Mapashalala lands in the Central District on the 13th of March in 2007 and each received a 10 year jail term.
In his grounds of appeal the appellant made continuous claims that the Magistrate erred by not giving him a fair hearing. Ntu further claimed that the magistrate’s court made an error by accepting some of the witnesses in the box whom he considered inadequate. He maintained that one of the admitted witnesses was not even there when he was arrested for the offence.
However Justice Motswagole dismissed the appeal indicating that all the grounds by Ntu that he was not afforded a fair hearing and that the magistrate was biased in his sentence and convictions were unmeritorious.
“There is sufficient evidence as led by the witnesses that you and the other convicts were indeed the perpetrators of the robbery,” the Judge maintained.
He added that the accused men were even found in possession of some of the stolen property. Justice Motswagole went on to tell the court that judgment by the magistrate was detailed and well reasoned. According to the facts from the prosecution, Ntu and two of the convicts who are also currently serving sentence for the offence used a knife to threaten the complainant in order to obtain her items. Some of the goods that were robbed include a vehicle, a pellet gun, cellphones and cash.
“After thoroughly reviewing the appeal I found out that all the grounds of the appeal lack merit and the convictions and sentence are appropriate therefore I will dismiss the appeal,” Motswagole concluded.
