Man jailed for strangling magistrate
Sharon Mathala | Tuesday January 30, 2024 06:00
The facts of the case are that on May 17, 2022, Korae appeared before the Molepolole Magistrate court on charges of threat to kill.
On that day, Korae found that he was appearing before a different Magistrate. He had protested that he had made a bail application before another magistrate and said he wished his matter would continue before the same magistrate, adding that when the magistrate turned down his plea, he became angry hurled insults at the magistrate. During trial it was the state case that after hurling insults at the magistrate, Korae had proceeded to assault her. Sensing an imminent attack from the accused, the magistrate ran out of the court room and the accused suddenly jumped from the dock to the bench and chased after her.
The police tried to restrain him, but he pushed them and eventually tripped the magistrate from behind. She fell on her back whereupon Korae descended on her and proceeded to assault her. He then tried to strangle her as she kept trying to ward him off, but he overpowered her until eventually more officers intervened. Korae was eventually charged with four counts. On count one, he was charged with the offence of assault common, on count two he was charged with the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and on count three he was charged with the offence of assaulting a police officer and on count four he was charged with the offence of resisting arrest. Korae pleaded not guilty to the four counts. In his defence, Korae's recollection of the events was that he was the one who was assaulted by officers along the corridors of the court and was rescued by other inmates.
He said after the magistrate had refused to recuse herself from his case in protest, he left the dock and went back to the magistrate cells. His version was that when he reached the cells some police officers started to assault him until they were restrained by the other remands. After assessing the matter, the magistrate said he believed the version of the magistrate because there was no reason to suspect that their testimonies were rehearsed to implicate the accused person. In the end, Korae was found guilty and convicted of common assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, while he was acquitted and discharged of the offences in count three of assaulting a police officer and another of resisting arrest.