State reduces murder charge to common assault

Patricia Edwin
Staff Writer | Thursday May 16, 2013 00:00

DPP attorney Modisa Kebonyemodisa said the state decided to drop the murder charges in line with Section 278 (3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. It has been heard that Gaseitsiwe had a fight with his then girlfriend at a party, on October 8, 2010 in Palapye. The woman reportedly set herself  alight after the incident and she sustained severe injuries that landed her in hospital. She passed away two weeks later.

Upon Justice Zibani Makhwade's perusal into the withdrawal of the murder charge, Kebonyemodisa said that as a representative of the DPP, he was authorised to drop charges with authority and on behalf of the director. He also told court that although the state had concluded to drop the charges, it was prepared to proceed with the common assault charge, asserting that the latter charge held more substance. The accused's attorney Kakanyo Phefa Mokwena of KP Mokwena and Partners agreed that the common assault charge was more fitting, as the evidence presented did not deserve a murder charge. Gaseitsewe was immediately arraigned on a charge of common assault which he pleaded guilty to.

He was sentenced to four months in prison backdated to the time he was first arrested and after committal, which rendered his sentence a non-custodial one. Mokwena explained to court that his client had spent a total of six months in custody, which means the four months he was sentenced to did not effect. The fact sheet states that the accused slapped the deceased, Manthonyana Kelaetse at a party. He however, denied the claims that he slapped, kicked and strangled the accused.