THABO MASILO DENIED BAIL Benjamin Shapi reporting for BOPA Justice Lot Moroka has denied Thabo Masilo bail and ordered that he be remanded in custody until his murder case comes to conclusion. Masilo, who is accused of the murder of a former St. Joseph College student, had approached the court praying that he be granted bail pending trial as he had been in custody ever since he was arrested over one and half years ago. Justice Moroka, who was recently transferred to Francistown High Court, did not disclose further reasons for his April 29 ruling. Efforts to solicit comments from Masilos lawyer, Mr Kgosietsile Ngakaagae as to whether he will appeal the ruling did not bear any fruit When arguing the bail application on behalf of his client on March 26, Attorney Ngakaagae had said it would be unfortunate if their bail application could be rejected looking at the fact that Masilo had been in custody since his arrest after the alleged murder of Tshepang Motlhabane on November 16, 2012 at Phase IV location in Gaborone. Mr Ngakaagae said the applicants initially felt Masilo should be held in custody for his own safety as members of the community were baying for his blood, coupled with the media frenzy that had engulfed the matter at the time. Mr Ngakaagae had submitted to the court then that Masilo, just like any other murder accused, was entitled to bail, augmenting his submission that his client would not skip the border to South Africa as alleged by the prosecution in their heads of arguments. Mr Ngakaagae had also submitted that there was no how Masilo could interfere with possible state witnesses more especially that investigations in his cases had been completed while his robbery and rape case scheduled for continuation of trial this May. In response, the prosecution, led by Mrs Khumoetsile Tirelo who was with Mr Kutlo Tsekane said Masilo, who also robbed Motlhabane of two cellphones and was found naked after falling from the ceiling of the house where he allegedly committed the offence, did not deserve bail. Mrs Tirelo stated that as far as the prosecution was concerned, Masilo had the propensity of committing other criminal offences using a similar modus operandi of targeting women and using force while robbing and assaulting them. She said it was also not just an imagination that members of the community were eagerly awaiting for Masilo to be given bail so that they could lay their hands on him. Mrs Tirelo also submitted that they had overwhelming evidence against the applicant as the blood which was found on his clothes matched the DNA of the deceased and that he was a flight risk, particularly that if found guilty, his maximum sentence could be death by hanging. She also said since Masilo committed a streak of robberies and rape coupled with assault and ultimately murder within a period of one month, it showed that he was not the kind of person who should be left to roam the streets.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 13:54:35 +0000