A traditional doctor from Tsau village who has been sentenced to a 20-year prison term for raping his 12-year-old daughter in August 21st, 2020 has applied for bail pending appeal of the judgement.
Appearing before Maun High Court Judge Godfrey Nthomiwa this week, the convict pleaded to be granted bail arguing that it is taking time for him to be served with the case documents. Prosecutor Kebigetswe Reid pleaded for another status hearing date noting that they are still waiting to be served with the said documents.
The victim was allegedly raped by her brother in the morning of that fateful day after being raped by her father the previous night. The brother’s case is being handled by social workers and relevant stakeholders for reasons that he is still a minor, while the complainant has been given refugee at a children’s home.
The father was then imprisoned for the offence by the Maun Chief Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu in October last year.
When passing the sentence last year Mulalu said the man stands convicted for a serious offence adding that such cases exposes the victims to sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS. He added that such offences cannot be condoned in an era that HIV prevalence is high.
Mulalu indicated that prosecution was able to prove that the accused person knew his HIV status and that he was aware of that by the time of committing the offence. That Mulalu has said deepens his sentence.
Mulalu had also noted that the fact that the accused person is the victim’s biological father who looked out to him to provide safety for her than becoming the danger she fears has attracted a stiff sentence for the accused person.
“I was made aware that the victim was taken to safety after the case was reported taking note that the accused person had been raping her for a while until the day of his arrest, she was actually put to safety from her father,” Mulalu said.
In his previous mitigation the accused person pleaded for a lesser sentence claiming that he has five children including the complainant who he solely takes care of.
He will appear again in court on the 13th December for status hearing.
