Death row inmate, Gobuamang Ntsuape was on Friday sentenced to two life sentences for the double murder of a police officer, and an additional 60 years behind bars for four attempted murders.
Thirty-eight-year-old Ntsuape is already on death row for killing Sadi Kgosietsile, the mother of his former girlfriend Dorcas Kgosietsile, and serving for arson, attempted murder and malicious damage of property.
Sentencing the Ramotswa born native, Judge Barnabas Nyamadzabo said Ntsuape’s previous convictions “reflect in bad light, even in the context of his diagnosis of a depressive illness”. A mental health condition which leads to violence and suicide when one is faced with stressful situations.
“The murder charge herein consists of more than one count, a sign that there was unnecessary loss of lives including of a law enforcement officer. Not only of four other people, including the convict himself, nearly lost their lives. This shows the he (Ntsuape) had not learnt from his past wrongdoing”, highlighted Justice Nyamadzabo.
“From the above those factors that aggravate the offence on a balance of scales outweigh the mitigating factors, and in my view calls for a more exemplary sentence. For count one murder and count two murder the convict is sentenced to life imprisonment, and for count three to six being attempted murder, the convict is sentenced to 15 years,” imprisonment for each count.
Ntsuape who is a father of two children pleaded guilty to double murder and four attempted murder, confessed before Judge Nyamadzabo that he wanted to make amends and smoke the peace pipe “with families of the deceased and society at large.” Remorse and regret which failed to save him from a stiff prison sentence.
According to the facts of the criminal matter, on the 1st of December 2016 in Gerald estates in Francistown while being ferried to prison from court, Ntsuape pounced on the driver of the Quantum minibus and wrestled the steering wheel, causing the vehicle to veer of the road and overturn, an action which court found to be impulsive and akin to suicide for Ntsaupe.
