High Court judge designate, Lot Moroka, on Friday convicted Edward and Michael Mzwinila of having robbed Bank of Baroda of P1 million in 2003.
Convicting the two brothers, Moroka said that it was unfortunate for former Gaborone North Member of Parliament, Michael Mzwinila, who is an uncle to the two convicts, to have come to Court and lie about having given his nephew Michael money amounting to P200, 000 in South Africa.
Moroka said that evidence produced by the prosecution shows that the money was obtained by the two convicts during an armed robbery.
Moroka said that Mzwinila failed to produce any evidence that he had entered South Africa with the said money, which he had finally given to his nephew.
The prosecution, on the other hand, said Moroka, had produced witnesses, including an accomplice witness whose evidence about how the armed robbery was planned and finally carried out proved beyond doubt to be true.
Moroka said the accomplice witness’s story was further corroborated by other witnesses, including Anastasia Maruapula, who had told the Court that the stolen money was shared in her flat and that she was given P24,000, which she used to buy some household goods which were eventually confiscated by police during their investigations into the matter.
Besides Maruapula and the accomplice witness’s evidence, Moroka said that a taxi driver also testified that he had, on the day in question, driven Michael in his car from around the place where the armed robbery took place to Maruapula’s flat and that he was paid P10,000.
The state, Moroka said, had established its case against the two convicts beyond reasonable doubt.
After their conviction, the two convicts, who did not show any emotions as Moroka read out the judgment, were driven back to jail to await mitigation and sentencing, which were scheduled for 23 November.
Initially, the two were facing trial along with their mother who Moroka earlier said had no case to answer.
