Death row inmate pleads for mercy

GABORONE: A death-row inmate awaiting sentencing for two passion-related murders, Simba Mampori, has pleaded with Chief Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe to temper justice with mercy when passing his final verdict.

Mampori, 39, stands convicted of the murder of Tshegofatso Namoshe in 2016 and of Matlhogonolo Moshashu in 2019, on suspicion that they were cheating on him.

Through his lawyer, Ms Nsi Sianang, Mampori asked the High Court to temper justice with mercy and to reject the state’s push for an extended prison term ahead of sentencing on the two murder convictions.

She said during mitigation that the convict’s personal circumstances should be taken into account.

Sianang said Mampori had pleaded guilty to one charge, which demonstrated remorse.

She argued that his diagnosed anti-social personality disorder should not be treated as an aggravating factor, and asked the court not to extend his sentence.

She further noted that the convict had acted without premeditation and had been triggered by extreme jealousy in both incidents, adding that the events were unrelated.

“The accused has been undergoing counselling since incarceration. He has been seeing a therapist for the past seven years,” Ms Sianang said.

She pleaded with the court that the 2019 conviction should carry no weight in the impending sentencing. 

Adding that when the 2019 murder occurred he had not been convicted of any offence, she said the court should treat Mampori as a first offender in respect of both sentences.

Ms Sianang further submitted that Mampori’s antisocial personality disorder, for which she said there was no cure, effectively amounted to a life sentence and should be considered by the court in mitigation.

However, prosecutor Ms Tshiamo Moilwa submitted that the disorder was an aggravating factor that warranted a longer sentence.

“An extended sentence should be considered with regard to the accused, since there is no medication or any remedy that can be explored,” Moilwa told the court.

She said Mampori’s victims were Namoshe, who was in her twenties when she was murdered in 2016, and Matlhogonolo Moshashu, the mother of Mampori’s son, who was killed in 2019.

“The appropriate sentence should be one that puts the convict away for the longest time,” Moilwa said, adding that Mampori had “made himself judge and jury” after suspecting both women of cheating on him.

She argued that the aggravating factors in the offences far outweighed the mitigating factors, adding that the accused had been merciless in his killings.

“On 23 March 2019 in Bontleng, he took Matlhogonolo Moshashu’s blood and wrote ‘ke lapile ka maaka’,” she said, adding that an appropriate sentence should be one that puts the convict away for a long time.

A former soldier , Mampori was convicted of murdering Namoshe in 2016 and Moshashu in 2019, and he will be sentenced on October 13.

He is already on death row for the murder of Tswanelo Moruti in 2019 by stabbing her 12 times , and further hitting her with a stone.

By Bonang Masolotate