GABORONE - A death row inmate, Kedisaletse
Tsobane, 49, who was convicted of killing his 10 year-old daughter
in 2004, has been executed.
Confirming his execution, Botswana Prisons
Services Public Relations Officer, Supt Wamorena Ramolefhe, said
he was hanged in the early hours of last Friday and buried at the
prison cemetery.
Tsobane's hanging follows the dismissal of his
appeal by the Court of Appeal.
Tsobane strangled his daughter, Kgotso
Macfallen, a standard six pupil on Jan. 20, 2004 in a bushy area
near Gerald Estate in Francistown.
Court of Appeal President, Justice Patrick
Tebbutt, confirmed the death verdict.
Tsobane had appealed his death conviction on
the grounds that he was heavily intoxicated when he killed the
child and that the murder was not premeditated.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the intoxication
defence as an exaggeration because Tsobane drove his vehicle
through the bushy area to where he killed the child without any
mishap. The court also noted that Tsobane dragged the deceased
deep into the bush.
The court also noted that Tsobane tried to make
it appear as if the deceased hanged herself.
Regarding pre-meditation, the court said
Tsobane had evil intentions as he picked the child near her school
and drove her deep into the bush.
It also noted that it was obvious that Tsobane
wanted to kill the child because he regarded her as the cause of
his financial situation and problems of child maintenance.
The Court of Appeal ruled that there were no
extenuating circumstances.
Justice Tebbutt said anxiety over one's
financial situation could never be a justification for killing an
innocent, defenceless, 10-year-old child.
Tsobane is the 42nd condemned person to be
executed since independence.