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Botswana’s Minister of Defence, Justice and Security Shaw Kgathi will soon table a bill before Parliament to address, among others, the offences of hostage-taking, possession of human flesh or remains and cannibalism, APA learned Monday.There is a public outcry that the law is not addressing issues related to ritual murder, and that perpetrators of such offences go unpunished.
The bill will also addresses general concerns of the public that laws are not deterrent enough, by introducing stiffer fines and penalties, particularly for the offences of murder, rape and manslaughter, and encourage uniformity in sentencing by introducing minimum mandatory sentences.
In a related matter, the bill will amend the Penal Code to align it with the Children’s Act by raising the legal age of maturity from 16 to 18 years.
According to Kgathi, the objective is to address cases of defilement and abuse of children, the abduction, indecent assault, and kidnapping of children
The bill was made available for public information on 23 February 2017, when it was published in the Government Gazette.
“There is an outcry from the members of the public that sentences provided in the Penal Code for offences under Sections 176 to 191 (common nuisance; trafficking in obscene publications; idle and disorderly persons; use of insulting language; nuisance by a drunken person etc) are not deterrent enough and that there is, therefore, a need to enhance the penalties,” announced Kgathi.
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