Botswana (2007), Court of Appeal

Botswana (2007), Court of Appeal

Sekoto v. Director of Public Prosecutions
(CLCB -037-06) [2007] BWCH 12 (25 January 2007)

The appellant appealed his conviction for the murder of his live-in girlfriend and his sentence of 12 years imprisonment. The Court upheld the sentence, noting the increasing incidence in Botswana of former lovers killing their partners and affirming that the courts should impose appropriately stiff sentences as a deterrent.

“The growing phenomenon of jilted lovers killing their partners is fast becoming a nightmare in this country…the point that the courts must play their part in stamping out this phenomenon… cannot be stressed strongly enough. The deceased was brutally murdered simply because she sought to exercise her right to terminate her relationship with the appellant and because she sought to exercise her choice of finding a new lover.” (Quoted form Original Judgment)

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