possible to rely on general reports about the pro deo legal aid scheme in the
Respondent State without specifically applying them to the present case.
75. Therefore, since no evidence has been provided in the present case to show that
the pro deo counsel allocated to Mr. Ping was young or inexperienced and
therefore lacked the requisite skills, resources and commitment to defend him,
resulting in the breach of his fair trial guarantees the Commission finds that the
Complainants have failed to prove its case against the Respondent State in this
respect.
76. On the extenuating circumstances, the Complainants submit that section 203(2) of
the Penal Code of Botswana distinguishes extenuating from personal
circumstances. According to the Complainant, the former refers to circumstances
that go to the nature of the crime, which may be considered when deciding on
the imposition of death penalty. The latter on the other hand relate to the
circumstance of the accused and may not be considered during the imposition of
the death penalty. In this regard, the Complainants argue that mitigating factors
were not considered. The issue therefore is whether failure to consider personal
circumstances of an individual while imposing death penalty could be deemed
arbitrary as supported by the case laws provided by the Complainants.
77. From the appellate record available at the Commission, it is clear that the Victim
had been protective to the son at one point.29 The Court of Appeal also only dealt
with the existence or not of extenuating circumstances and found them to be nonexistent with respect to the murder of the child.30 The issue of personal
circumstances as explained by the Complainants was also dealt with under the
extenuating circumstances part and found to be inapplicable with respect to the
29
30
Court of Appeal of Botswana, Criminal Appeal No. 045 of 2005, para 4.
As above, 41-42.
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