Corpun file 18954

The Voice, Francistown, 2 March 2007

Dread locked

Rastaman sent to jail

By Innocent Tshukudu

A Rastaman remanded in custody last week for violent conduct will spend the next 18 months in jail.

The fate of 23-year Ndaboka Kenosi was decided last Friday after Tatitown Customary Court President Margaret Mosojane considered that the accused had previous convictions.

The court heard that two weeks ago Kenosi, who had been convicted for a charge of common nuisance, had been sentenced to corporal punishment.

Kenosi, according to court records, escaped from custody before the punishment was carried out, and had been on the run for days before police apprehended him on Monday last week, when he was brought to court to be whipped.

As the police were due to carry out the punishment, Kenosi went berserk and tried to hit a police officer with a chair, scattering court staff who ran for their lives. The enraged Kenosi then smashed the chair against a Tribal Administration van, shattering its windscreen.

When reading out the judgement, Mosojane said: "Looking at the circumstances the court realises that the accused cannot escape conviction in this offence. He has pleaded guilty and the circumstances surrounding the offence clearly show that he indeed is guilty."

Sporting long and matted dreadlocks Kenosi said he became violent as the police had ill-treated him. "When the police arrested me they beat me up and they injured me on the leg and that's why I lost my temper when I was brought to court. All they were interested in was humiliating me and I couldn't take all that," he said pointing to a mark on his leg.

Kenosi's sentence of 18 months did not include the option of a fine.

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