- Court found extenuating circumstances
A former herdboy, Goitsemodimo Ontirestse, of 36-year-old will spend the next five years behind bars after he was convicted for arson and causing grievous harm.
Four years ago, on the 24th of June at Maseedane cattle post near Semolale village, Ontiretse picked a fight with Tshepiso Dipo and her boyfriend Lenyatso Kgaolo. He attacked the couple with stones as they left a drinking spot, heading home.
Ontiretse was livid because Dipo had turned down his love advances three months back. Seeing the lovey dovey couple, Ontiretse told Kgaolo to leave his girlfriend.
According to evidence presented in court, the couple managed to out run him and took refuge in their home. Unknown to them, Ontiretse was hot in pursuit. Upon arriving at the couple’s home, drunk from binging on six litres of opaque beer, Ontiretse started to shout demanding for Dipo to come out, banging on the door of the hut where the couple was sleeping.
Around dawn, the 36-year-old herd boy returned with a jerry can filled with petrol, poured the fuel on the door of the hut and set the thatched hut on fire, and only for the Dipo and Kgaolo to wake up engulfed in smoke and surrounded by a blazing fire. The couple escaped through the window, injured and burnt and fled to the yard of a neighbor.
Sentencing the convict, Justice Tshegofatso Mogomotsi however found extenuating circumstances in this case. “The accused suffers from mild depression due to psycho social problems and was an addict of alcohol and was young at the time. Such that he did not grasp the consequences of his action at the time.”
However, Mogomotsi noted that the survivors will forever suffer trauma, as the scars from the burns will be a constant reminder of their near-death experience. “They also lost property worth over P10 000.00, which the accused has no evidence that he can replace or compensate the victims.”
Justice Mogomotsi described Ontiretse as an irresponsible individual who has no direction in his life. “He started abusing alcohol from 2003 until 2020 when he was arrested. He would drink daily until he was broke. He had an intention to kill or harm the innocent lives of a woman and her boyfriend.”
Ontiretse who has never been to school was sentenced to five years for arson while for two counts of grievous harm he was sentenced to seven years for each charge. Seven years of his sentence was wholly suspended with Mogomotsi concluding that the sentences will run concurrently.
“I will never do it again, I have learnt the hard way”, these were the words of Ontiretse as he walked out the court room this week.
