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Botswana court grants bail to SA drug trafficker

───   15:17 Thu, 04 Dec 2014

Botswana court grants bail to SA drug trafficker | News Article

Gabarone - A Botswana High Court granted bail on Thursday to a South African national convicted and sentenced by the lower court for drug trafficking.

Dewald Steyn De Beer was sentenced to two years in jail by the Village Magistrate's Court Magistrate Pricilla Ditlhong two weeks ago, with one year suspended.

De Beer was suspected to have trafficked the controlled drug ephedrine into the country.

According to evidence brought before court, De Beer arrived in Botswana on October 17 at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport using Kenya Airways from India after connecting in Nairobi.

Immediately after landing in Botswana he told airport authorities his luggage was left in Nairobi.

A day later, police caught him at a Gaborone mall after receiving information that his luggage contained a certain controlled drug, which he had not declared, or informed the director of health services as required.

De Beer was then whisked away to the airport where he identified his bag, which contained ephedrine weighing 9.6kg.

A case was opened, which led to his conviction and sentence in the lower court.

However, after serving less than three weeks in prison De Beer brought his case before the high court for a bail application pending his appeal of the sentence.

After hearing the case, high court Judge Sigh Walia said he noted some errors made by the lower court.

However, Walia wondered if De Beer would not be a danger to himself and others as he was schizophrenic. He was taking medication for his condition.

"I can note that the judge made some errors when sentencing the accused, but what about his condition and where is he going to stay while out on bail," said Walia.

Walia said De Beer did not deserve a harsh sentence since he was a first offender.

He added the accused had also pleaded guilty and his offence had not done any harm to society. Defence lawyer Friday Leburu told the court the sentence for his client was harsh.

In the end, Walia offered De Beer conditional bail. He was supposed to deposit Pula2500 surety as part of bail conditions and surrender travel documents.

The accused was also supposed to report twice a week to the police and not leave Gaborone before informing authorities.

A date for his appeal hearing is yet to be set.

Sapa

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