09 May 2024

Tsabong Magistrate Tjeripo Nguvauva on Tuesday discharged and acquitted three men who had been charged for possession of Methcathinone weighing 1.3 grams. 

Magistrate Nguvauva’s ruling was in line with the most recent legal development in the country, which makes it a criminal offence to be found in possession of the intoxicating Methcathinone substance, commonly referred to as ‘CAT’. 

The offence was committed before Methcathinone possession  was criminalised and so the court found no solid grounds to convict accused persons for having been found in possession of the drug on December 26, 2018. 

The accused were 32-year-old Loago Kelefhile of Kisa, 39-year-old Kelish Asvat born in Mauritius, and 33-year-old Seabe Tladi from Mochudi. 

The three men walked scot-free after Magistrate Nguvauva ruled that the amendment of the law on Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances to explicitly include Methcathinone on the list of prohibited substances was made on April 24. 

He made reference to the judgment made by Justice Godfrey Nthomiwa of the High Court in a case in which Mr Newton Pelekekae had taken the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to court for charging him with possession of ‘CAT’, while Methcathinone was not listed as an illicit drug then.

The effect of that was that the case could not proceed as there was no law against possession of the drug at the time the alleged offence was committed. 

“After the ruling then came the declaration that Methcathinone was an illicit substance on April 24, 2024 and therefore the law operates where it has been declared going forward. It does not operate retrospectively. All cases that came before the declaration of the Methcathinone act as an illicit substance would then fall away,” he said. 

The three accused persons’ attorney, Mr Gosiame Digangwa called for the withdrawal of the matter based on the Pelekekae Vs The State ruling. 

He advanced reasons that his clients were arraigned before ‘CAT’ was criminalised. 

“This court is bound by the decision of the High Court. The rush of the amendment shows that there was a gap that had to be closed. The right thing for the prosecution to do is to simply withdraw the matter,” he argued. 

State prosecutor Sub inspector, Moagi Selogelo said Justice Nthomiwa’s acquittal of Pelekekae for the offence he committed prior to the April 2024 amendment rendered the case against Kelefhile, Asvat, and Tladi null and void which then compelled them as the prosecution to withdraw the matter. 

In an interview, Sub inspector Selogelo said, the accused were arrested on December 26, 2018 in Tsabong after the police received a tip off that the men were moving around the village suspected to be distributing drugs. 

The police nabbed the suspects at Bontleng ward in Tsabong where they searched them and found seven small transparent resealable sachets containing white powdery substance stashed in a Peter Stuyvesant cigarette box container hidden in the car. 

The suspects were then arrested  and detained while the substance was sent to a police forensic laboratory for testing.

The vehicle was impounded as another exhibit. 

At the time, the accused were not found in possession of a drug substance permit, which allowed them to carry such. 

Magistrate Nguvauva ordered that all three accused be discharged and the exhibits of Methcathinone remain with the state to be disposed while the motor vehicle shall be released back to its owner. Ends