STAKEHOLDERS GIVE RAPIST LIFE SENTENCE THUMPS UP
FRANCISTOWN: Different stakeholders involved in upholding human rights in the country have welcomed the recent life imprisonment meted by the Francistown High Court on a 36-year-old man convicted of raping a four-yearold girl in 2004.
In one of the rare rulings, Justice Matlhogonolo Phuthego sentenced Dipuo Marutwane of Pallaroad village to life behind the bars for the offence.
Although it was not the first time that a rape convict was given a life sentence in Botswana, different stakeholders hailed Phuthego’s judgment.
The stakeholders said Phuthego’s decision will act as a stern deterrent to would-be-offenders amid the increasing numbers of Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases especially sexual offences and murders.
The executive director at Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA), Cindy Kelemi, said her organisation celebrates the sentence that was handed down on Marutwane.
BONELA is an organisation that works to promote the rights of people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS and other human rights issues.
“The sentence will go a long way in sending a very strong message to perpetrators of rape and broader violators of human rights especially GBV cases. Botswana is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of rape cases in the world. The courts have taken a leadership role in stemming the tide of sexual violence and other forms of GBV. We call upon every organisation involved in the fight against GBV such the customary courts, religious sector, institutions that provide care to victims of GBV amongst to not let their guard down,” Kelemi encouraged.
She added: “Every institution that has a role to play in promoting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of children should play its role. The judgment will also reinvigorate us to do more in responding to various forms of GBV. This includes ensuring that we have a well coordinated response to these issues.”
The chairperson of the Botswana Democratic Party’s (BDP) Women’s Wing, Veronica Lesole, also welcomed the sentence.
Although Lesole said that she was speaking for herself and not necessarily the party because it has not met to deliberate about the issue, she nonetheless stated that she hailed the sentence as a necessary development.
“The sentence will send a very strong message to people who have been sexually harassing others and those who are having ambitions of doing so to know that they risk spending the rest of their lives in prison. People who sexually abuse others should be taken away from the rest of the public hence I welcome the sentence like a breath of fresh air,” said Lesole.
The president of Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Women’s League Tshimologo Dingake also hailed Phuthego’s decision.
“We feel that although the accused was given the ultimate sentence, the sentence can never be deterrent enough if the government does not do more to protect vulnerable members of society especially women and the girl-child who are mostly affected by these kind of offences. Although the sentence will never erase the psychological scars and other associated pains that the child will go through in her life, we however welcome it,” said Dingake.
Marutwane has a 2005 previous conviction of rape and unlawful wounding whereupon he was sentenced to 10 years and nine months in jail respectively for the offences.
Before he was found guilty of the offences, Marutwane was sentenced to three strokes in 2003 for common assault and four strokes in 2004 for assault occasioning bodily harm.