Lehlohonolo Kobedi, a South African man who had been...

Lehlohonolo Kobedi, a South African man who had been on death row in Botswana for five years, was executed at Gaborone Central Prison, SABC news reported. Kobedi had been sentenced to death in 1998 for killing David Hlangane, a Botswana policeman. He was the second South African in two years to be executed in Botswana.
Marietta Bosch was hanged there in 2001 for the murder of her husband's first wife. Kobedi was convicted for murdering Hlangane during a bloody shoot out with the local police shortly after an armed robbery incident which occurred in Lobatse, a town situated some 90km south of the capital Gaborone in 1993.
Earlier in 2003 the Botswana High Court's Appellate Division dismissed an application by Kobedi to have his death sentence overturned.
His lawyers had approached the division to seek an order to stop a possible execution, pending the final outcome of an application for clemency.
It was the second time that he had approached the Court of Appeal to try to put aside his conviction and sentence. His lawyers had, among others, argued that his ill health did not warrant death by hanging, as it would have constituted cruelty and inhuman punishment.
They had also said that Kobedi was not afforded a legal representative of his choice, emphasising that he was not accorded a fair trial.
His defence wanted the Appellate Court to reverse his conviction and sentence by declaring a mistrial, or grant him a chance to lead new evidence. However, Julian Nganunu, the Botswana Court of Appeal Chief Justice, remained unfazed by new arguments put forward by Kobedi's lawyers and the appeal application was dismissed. Kobedi's application for a retrial was denied.