Zimbabwean murderer escapes hangman's nose in Botswana

A man from Kezi village in Zimbabwe, who hacked his girlfriend's mother to death before attempting to kill his girlfriend, has escaped the hangman's noose.

Trust Maposa (30) escaped hanging last week when Francistown High Court Judge Justice Gaongalelwe Ketlogetswe found extenuating circumstances in his case.

The Judge instead sentenced him to 23 years in jail for the murder of his girlfriend's mother, Mmantho Oagile and a 15 year jail term for the attempted murder of his girlfriend, Motlalepula Kgosietsile.

Both sentences are to run concurrently, meaning Maposa will only serve an effective 23-year jail term.

Maposa had pleaded not guilty to both counts, arguing that he alongside Oagile and Kgosietsile were attacked by unknown people on the 10th of March 2011.

However, Maposa was convicted on both counts of murder and attempted murder, due to overwhelming evidence by the state.

The court proved that Maposa chased and hacked Oagile and attempted to kill his girlfriend at Diolamachena lands, near Tonota village.

But both the defence counsel and prosecution agreed that extenuating circumstances existed in the matter, meaning that Maposa is liable to be awarded any sentence other than the death penalty, the Judge ruled.

Although the Maposa is not obliged to prove the existence of extenuating circumstances, the judge told the court that Maposa opted to give sworn evidence in extenuation.

In his sworn evidence, Maposa stated that on the day of the incident, he had drunk too much traditional alcoholic beverage known as samdenyula and ginger from around 11am until 6pm.

According to his evidence before court, Maposa revealed that he had gone for a beer binge after his girlfriend had told him that she was diagnosed HIV positive, the virus that causes the pandemic AIDS.

"He said the news that Motlalepula had been diagnosed with HIV stressed him to the core because he suspected that she had also infected him," the Judge told the court.

The judge added that the accused had taken some alcohol at the time.

The judge added, "Mbongwe (State Prosecutor) has rightly in my view, pointed out that the accused had been seen drinking Chibuku in the morning by Motlalepula, before leaving for the party."

He then sentenced him to an effective 23 year jail term.

Wedu Mbongwe prosecuted the matter while Opeyemi Ajayi of Ajayi Attorneys represented the accused person.