Magistrate lashes out at 'lazy' prosecutors

Lebogang Mosikare
Correspondent | Wednesday May 15, 2013 00:00

Mulalu said this in the wake of the acquittal and discharge of a Gerald Estates man who was charged with two counts of rape and unlawfully wounding his girlfriend.The state alleged that the accused raped the complainant on October 8 and 9, 2011 at Gerald Estates.

He was also charged with stabbing the girlfriend with a knife on the thighs on October 9 at the same location. The magistrate said it was the duty of the prosecution to avail all documents related to cases to courts so they can come up with decisions that are beyond reasonable doubt and unbiased against accused persons.

He said there was no way courts could do that if prosecutors did not play their part by bringing necessary documents to court for the levers of the judiciary to function efficiently.Mulalu said the shoddy job done by some prosecutors would leave the courts with no option but to acquit and discharge accused persons even if it was apparent they were guilty. Acquitting and discharging the accused, Mulalu said he found the complainant an untrustworthy, playful and indifferent person who did not see the seriousness of the case before court.

The magistrate said the complainant sometimes giggled and laughed unnecessarily when giving evidence in court.Mulalu stated that the complainant laid rape charges against the father of her child in order to get even with him because he beat her and stabbed her with a knife on the thighs after he discovered her 'adulterous' relationship with a certain man of Gerald Estates.

From evidence brought before court, it was clear that the accused stabbed the complainant because she cheated on him, he said.Mulalu said even the second prosecution witness, who is the sister of the complainant, had alluded to the fact that the complainant told her that she was with another man and she had sex with him in a certain football field, an issue that triggered the trumped up charges against the accused.

The court heard that the accused pleaded not guilty to the rape charges but admitted stabbing the complainant with a knife because she was unfaithful.Mulalu therefore said he could not find the accused guilty of unlawful wounding because the state had dismally failed to furnish the court with final submissions in the matter even though the accused admitted the charge.He thus urged the prosecution to take their jobs seriously for courts to come up with watertight judgements.