Lobatse High Court Judge, DR Onkemetse Tshosa, who was recently charged with driving whilst allegedly unfit to drive, has pleaded not guilty to three counts he is facing whilst the fourth one was dismissed by the presiding Magistrate, Southern Regional Magistrate, Barnabas Nyamazabo.
Tshosa entered a plea of not guilty after Nyamazabo had earlier dismissed an application brought by his lawyer, Batlhalefi Moelesti, that the charges against his client be dismissed because they were a duplication, which he submitted was legally wrong.
Nyamazabo, in his ruling, said that he saw nothing wrong with three of the four counts but dismissed the second count, which related to Tshosa having allegedly at the same time, driven the same vehicle in a manner that was dangerous to other people and collided with a Toyota Corolla, driven by Goitseone Ditogo.
Count three is that he had, without reasonable excuse, failed to provide a specimen of breath when required to do so by a police officer while count four is that he had assaulted a police officer, Constable Moses Ndlovu, an on-duty member of the Botswana Police Service.
Tshosa, a former University of Botswana lecturer, has been placed on a special paid leave, allowing him to finish cases he had already started whilst cases which were assigned to him but had not started will be assigned to other judges.
Wesson Manchwe is prosecuting.
The case continues on 18 April.
