A 29-year-old graphic designer left the Urban Customary Court in tears this Wednesday after he was found guilty and sentenced to five strokes on the bum for breaking his father’s main door after a misunderstanding between the two.
Keabetswe Keabetswe, 29, from Phalane Ward in Molepolole and who works as a graphic designer in Gaborone, pleaded guilty to the charges of malicious damage to property.
According to the Central Police State Prosecutor, Constable Thatayaone Mabengu, the accused, who stays with his father at Ext 9 in Gaborone, was arrested on August 27, 2006 after his father filed a complaint claiming his son had damaged his door worth P299.
The father, Moatshe Moatshe, who was in court as a witness in the case, was ordered to see his son being flogged by the police officer in the caning room.
Before passing the sentence, Kgosi Sebele told Keabetswe that the crime he had committed could land him a jail term of up to five years.
He, however, sentenced him to five strokes and ordered him to compensate his father within 7 days, failing which police would take him to prison to serve for 6 months.
