Masilo back in court this week

Murder accused Thabo Masilo returns to court this week for submission of extenuation. In December last year the Lobatse High Court found him guilty of the 2012 murder of Tshepang Motlhabane who had just completed her form five at St. Joseph’s College. During the ruling, Justice Abednigo Tafa said evidence indicated that the murder was premeditated. “The accused stabbed the deceased three times. If it was indeed self-defence as he claims he would not have stabbed her three times. It is without a doubt that the accused had come to the house with the intention to commit a crime,” he said. Masilo had claimed that the deceased was his girlfriend and they had a lovers’ tiff when he demanded back his money and a cellphone he had borrowed her. Following the ruling, Masilo’s lawyer Kgosi Ngakaagae then asked for date for submissions on extenuation, where they would present three witnesses. Masilo is already serving 15 years in jail for robbery and rape. Meanwhile, Bakang Seretse, who is also represented by Ngakaagae, will return to court next week to hear the ruling in his money laundering case as his fight to reclaim his assets continues. Last week Justice Monametsi Gaongalelwe of the Court of Appeal reserved ruling to February 15 in the matter following Seretse’s challenge to DPP over the order that put his house in Extension 11 over judicial restraint. In another twist, Sadique Kebonang’s mother Jeanette Mooketsi had also approached the Court of Appeal to be returned her Mercedes Benz, which was seized by DPP as part of the items put under judicial restraint in the NPF legal case. Both her twin sons, Sadique and High Court Judge Zein Kebonang, are implicated in the NPF scandal largely by association for now, as the case continues in court. Justice Gaongalelwe threw out Mooketsi’s urgent application on Friday again, saying that Mooketsi’s arguments, presented through her lawyer, Unoda Mack, on why the car should be released to her were not convincing enough. Mooketsi had claimed she needed the car as she had to travel to South Africa to seek medical attention.