Man granted bail despite being found guilty

Lebogang Mosikare
Correspondent | Thursday January 24, 2013 00:00

An uneasy looking Mokate appeared in court to receive judgement in a case in which he was accused of stealing a calf belonging to Nsununguli Molao in November last year. The incident reportedly took place at Mooke cattle post near Francistown. 'You took advantage of stealing the calf because it was neither branded nor earmarked. You then marked it with your own brand and earmark with the intention of permanently depriving it of its legal owner. I therefore find you guilty of the offence as charged,' said Mulalu in his judgement.Before he could complete reading his judgement state prosecutor Gasemotho Pitlagano jumped from his chair and applied that the accused be fingerprinted to ascertain if he has previous convictions related to the one he was currently facing. Mulalu subsequently ruled that Mokate be remanded in jail pending his sentence after the prosecution applied for Mokate to be fingerprinted. The accused caused fits of laughter in the courtroom when he applied for bail to allow him the chance to wind up his estate before serving his sentence. 'I beg that the court affords me an opportunity to go and tell my relatives about my fate because I was not expecting to lose the case,' Mokate said. The magistrate tampered justice with mercy and granted him bail. He was ordered to appear in court on January 30 to hear his sentence.