BY SILAS NKALA A 72-YEAR-OLD Zimbabwean pensioner, Ian Douglas Carlisle, has been jailed one year in Botswana for shooting a fisherman whom he found fishing in a river at his farm.
The shooting incident occurred on July 15, 2017, but Carlisle was jailed last week for shooting Biki Tshetlha (51) whom he found fishing in the Tati River.
Court papers state that Carlisle, who is a Zimbabwean pensioner, was charged with a single count of shooting Tshetlha on the knee.
The court was told that on that day, Tshetlha was fishing with his friends when they were approached by Carlisle and his employees and asked to leave.
Carlisle claimed that the river was inside his farm and so the fishermen were trespassing.
Tshetlha and his friends ignored the order and continued fishing.
It is the State case that this infuriated Carlisle and a scuffle ensued.
Carlisle tried to grab Tshetlha, who in turn pointed a spear at him. He was using the spear to fish.
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The Zimbabwean farmer hit him with the back of his gun and Tshetlha fell in the water.
He immediately stood up and hit Carlisle with the wooden stick of his spear.
The scuffle resumed, resulting in Carlisle firing a shot towards Tshetlha, hitting him on the knee.
Carlisle immediately rushed him to the hospital, where he was bedridden for three weeks as a result of the gunshot wound.
Carlisle told the court that prior to the incident, he had problems with trespassers, poachers and people fishing in the river.
In sentencing Carlisle, Botswana magistrate Tshepo Magetse indicated that he was not supposed to fight Tshetlha because he does not own the river as he claimed.
“The gun shot force used against a man armed with a wooden stick was way too excessive. I herein find the accused guilty for unlawfully wounding the complainant. The accused is, therefore, sentenced to two years in prison, with one year suspended,” Magetse ruled.
The magistrate advised him of his right to appeal to the High Court within six weeks if dissatisfied with the sentence.
