TWIN KILLER ESCAPES PRISON

A 44-year-old woman of Old Kazungula in the Chobe District escaped jail by a whisker this week when Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo gave her a suspended sentence for killing her twin brother eight years ago.

Kashweeka Senoya’s sob story and show of remorse moved the High Court to give her a suspended sentence and, although she pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter, it was proven that she never really intended to kill her brother in the first place.

“I warn you to take this sentence as a lesson and refrain from doing anything that will bring you back before this court because next time the court won’t be so merciful,” stressed Nyamadzabo.

The background of the case is that in October 2013, Kashweeka was sleeping in her hut with two minor children, one hers and the other belonging to her younger brother. Her twin brother, Ndumba Senoya, who was said to have been drunk at the time, allegedly came into the compound and started hurling insults at her and went on to break down the door of the hut and threatened to kill her and the children.

The twins then fought and Kashweeka allegedly hit her brother with a metal chair which sent him flying onto the ground.

Kashweeka, who is said to have taken the parental role in their house since the passing of their parents in the 90s, is said to have tried to get medical help for his brother before he succumbed to the injuries the next day.

“The accused later took the deceased to the clinic for medical attention after he complained of stomachache. The accused then purchased the prescribed medicine for the accused at the local pharmacy. Later, when the deceased’s condition worsened, the accused took him to a local pastor for help as per his (deceased’s) wishes,” Kashweeka’s attorney, Lesego Phoi, of Phoi Attorneys in Maun, had submitted before court.

At the pastor’s, the twin brother was prescribed to drink milk and sent back home where he later passed on.

Initially, Kashweeka was charged with murder, of which she pleaded not guilty but when the charge was changed to manslaughter, she immediately pleaded guilty.

At the time of her brother’s death, the twins are said to have made their peace and their bond as twins reestablished.

The attorney contended that taking her to jail was not going to bring any positive change in the family as she was the sole provider for her disabled 13-year-old who cannot walk, nor bathe, nor feed himself. Furthermore, with money she gets from government’s draught relief programme, Ipelegeng, she was providing for her unemployed brother and his children.

The judge sentenced Keshweeka to 5 years in prison wholly suspended on condition that she does not commit a similar offence.