MASERU — When Kelisitse Tsatsi arrived at his home at Sekhutlong in Sekamaneng in Berea on the night of June 13 he was shocked to find another man inside.
The man who was identified in the Maseru Magistrate’s Court last Wednesday as Lefu Leche, 60, tried to flee through the sitting room.
When Tsatsi tried to ask him what he was doing in his house Leche took out a gun and pointed it at him before threatening to shoot him.
The intruder managed to escape after Tsatsi rushed into his bedroom to take a stick to attack him.
On his way to the bedroom Tsatsi met his wife who was holding some blankets, which she claimed she was preparing for their bed.
Leche in the meantime raised alarm and by the time the two men were outside the complainant’s sons also arrived.
The court heard that Leche then fired a shot before running away as Tsatsi tried to apprehend him.
The complainant then went to report the incident to Mabote police leading to the arrest of the accused.
Police later found the accused in possession of a firearm which was loaded with three rounds of ammunition.
Maseru magistrate Teboho Thoso warned Leche not to engage in adulterous affairs with other people’s wives when he appeared before the court last week.
“You are old enough not to indulge in adulterous affairs with other people’s wives,” he said before
fining Leche M500 for illegal possession of a firearm.
Leche was also convicted of common assault
and fined M1 000 which was suspended on
condition that he does not commit a similar offence again.
This was after the accused was at pains to tell the court what he was doing at Tsatsi’s house and why he pointed a gun at him.
“The complainant’s wife knows me because we are co-villagers,” Leche said.
Pressed further, he added: “I pointed a firearm at him because I was afraid when he found me inside his house, and I am in love with his wife.”
However the complainant’s wife was not in court.
But magistrate Thoso had harsh words for the accused.
“You were brave enough to fall in love with his wife and then point a gun at him, what about the integrity of this man, his family, even the wife and children, and your own integrity as well?
“So you were brave enough to get him out of his house with a gun? How do you want villagers to view you?” he asked.
Leche admitted that what he had done was
abominable and that his actions showed disrespect to the family of the complainant and his
children.
The magistrate said he arrived at the sentence after considering the age of the accused.
