Ndingililo Gaoswediwe
6 July 2009
Francistown — Principal Magistrate Peggy Madandume last week urged the state counsel to speed up investigations into a case in which a Zimbabwean man is facing a single count of obtaining goods by false pretences.
Jabulani Ngwenya has been remanded for almost two months but his case has stalled despite having engaged an attorney to handle his case.
The case was scheduled for ruling last week but Madandume refused to pass judgement as she requested that submissions be made.
State counsel Moffat Dick advised the court not to proceed with the arguments.
Dick further added that the court would make the ruling after both the prosecution and defence counsels have made their submissions.
Dick put the blame on the investigating officer, saying: "I have not gathered anything from him and failed to get in touch with him this morning."
Madandume said that her job could have been made much easier if both counsels had made submissions so she could pass judgement based on the facts provided.
She added that the accused would have to be further remanded.
Defence counsel Kagiso Jani of Kgalemang and Associates said that he intends not to make any further submissions until the ruling.
He requested the court to set a mention date, as there was no consensus on what was supposed to happen yesterday.
The magistrate once again reminded the prosecutor to gather information from the investigating officer and stop telling the court that investigations were still ongoing.
The accused is alleged to have obtained goods of an undisclosed amount from Nokia in Francistown in May this year.
At some stage, the defence counsel failed to convince the state to withdraw the matter despite the arrangements that had been made by the accused to refund the Nokia Company.
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