Francistown Senior Magistrate, Kgololesego Segabo, on Friday convicted and sentenced Oageng Samson, 25, of Shashe Mooke Village to ten years imprisonment for a single count of rape.
According to the charge sheet, sometimes in February 2010, Segabo forcefully had sex with a middle-aged woman of Matsitama Village in the Central District.
During trial, the complainant told court that she met Samson for the first time in a bar sometime in February 2010 in Matsitama Village. She said that the accused then approached  her and proposed love to her. She then refused the proposal and the accused forcefully pulled and assaulted her while intimidating her with a stick. He dragged her to his house in Matsitama where he raped her.
The state witnesses also augmented evidence given by the complainant during trial saying that they saw the accused pulling the complainant and assaulting her.
However, the accused continuously denied the charge in court, maintaining that the complainant was his girlfriend at the time. He also said that the two had agreed to have sexual intercourse.
Passing his verdict, the Magistrate said that there is overwhelming evidence against the accused that he committed the offence. He said that evidence clearly showed that the accused forcefully had sex with the complainant without her consent.
“Incidents of rape in the country are taking a disturbing direction. Perpetrators of such offences should be brought to justice. If such perpetrators are left to roam the community, women will be in danger and the battle against HIV/Aids in the country will also be lost,” the Magistrate said.
He added that the court took into account the mitigation by the accused, who had told court that he is the breadwinner and has a family to take care of. The magistrate maintained that the interests of society should be taken into consideration.
“In this case I do not find any extenuating circumstances therefore, ten years imprisonment will be an appropriate sentence for the accused. The sentence will be backdated from the day when the accused was remanded in custody on the 20th of July this year,” he said.
