The appellant, Edward Mogorosi, was convicted of rape in August 2001 in the Regional Court, Lehurutshe, and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. Approximately seven years later, in March 2009, he approached the North West High Court seeking to appeal against both conviction and sentence. His appeal was grossly out of time, and he applied for condonation on the basis that the trial record and audio tapes could not be located and could not be reconstructed. Affidavits from the prosecutor and the presiding magistrate confirmed the loss of the record and their inability to reconstruct it. The appellant’s affidavit provided a vague explanation for the delay and did not address the merits of his conviction or his prospects of success. The High Court dismissed the condonation application, finding the explanation inadequate, and struck the matter from the roll. The appellant appealed that dismissal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.