Bail Revoked For Attempted Murder Accused
FRANCISTOWN: A man facing attempted murder charges learnt the hard way after his bail was revoked for failure to appear in court.
Modise William, 39, landed in hot soup after he missed three scheduled court appearances for attempting to murder his girlfriend, Moithobosi Mbise in SelebiPhikwe in 2016.
William attempted to murder Mbise following a misunderstanding. He pleaded guilty to the charge before Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo sometime this year. William, who was supposed to appear for mitigation and sentence, vanished into thin air before he could submit his fingerprints to the police to check if he has previous convictions. On Friday, William’s attorney Opeyemi Ajayi pleaded with the Francistown High Court, without success not to revoke his client’s bail.
Ajayi said William was supposed to appear in court on June 11 but failed to do so because he had to self-isolate away from his place after one of his children contracted COVID-19.
Ajayi added that William was however willing to submit his fingerprints for analysis any time from Friday. “We have agreed with the prosecution that the accused should submit his fingerprints for analysis today,” Ajayi said.
However, prosecutor Gape Merafhe from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions differed with Ajayi. “I thought the learned defence counsel will talk about the warrant of arrest that was issued against his client. The learned defence counsel has not shown cause why bail for his client should not be cancelled following the failure by his client to appear before this court on three occasions. The Investigations Officer (IO) has tried to locate the accused on numerous occasions to no avail,” Merafhe said. “The long arm of the law managed to locate the accused through the help of his friend who is present in court. We are of the view that the accused’s bail should be cancelled, and he should also submit his fingerprints for analysis today,” Merafhe added.
In response, Ajayi said he indeed did not touch on the revocation of William’s bail. “The IO has not provided written submissions why he was unable to locate the accused.
The accused has made efforts to submit his fingerprints for analysis, but police officers were either sick or not present and the machines used for analysing fingerprints were not functioning. The accused has furnished me with an address that can be used to find him before his sentence is passed. He has also not changed his phone numbers for the past four years. I have been using those numbers to contact him ever since,” Ajayi said. When giving a ruling on whether to revoke William’s bail or not, Nyamadzabo said he had noted that the matter was postponed three times to allow the accused to be fingerprinted but the accused has not done so to this day.
“Although there were reasons submitted by the accused’s lawyer on why he failed to appear in court, I am of the view that he should be remanded in custody in order to not delay the matter again. I, therefore, make an order to revoke the accused’s bail.
The accused should also submit his fingerprints for analysis to check if he has previous convictions or not today. Sentence in this matter shall be delivered on August 31,” Nyamadzabo ruled.