Moorosi Tsiane
FORMER Police Commissioner, Molahlehi Letsoepa, has been granted bail in the murder case of Police Constable Mokalekale Khetheng after the High Court ruled that the state had failed to justify his continued detention.
High Court Judge, Mafelile Ralebese, admitted Mr Letsoepa to M7 000 bail, finding that the Crown, led by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Lehlanako Mofilikoane, had failed to establish a prima facie case warranting the denial of bail.
Mr Letsoepa, who spent the Christmas holidays in custody, approached the court through his lawyer, Advocate Zwelakhe Mda KC, arguing that there were exceptional circumstances justifying his release in terms of section 109(a) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
Adv Mda submitted that his client had an unassailable defence to the murder charge and was suffering from chronic illnesses, namely diabetes and hypertension, which require specialised care allegedly not available within the Lesotho Correctional Services (LCS).
He further argued that Mr Letsoepa was not a flight risk and that his family was facing severe financial hardship, as his terminal benefits had not yet been paid.
Opposing the application, Adv Mofilikoane argued that Mr Letsoepa had failed to establish exceptional circumstances. She maintained that he was a flight risk, alleging that he fled the country in August 2017 to evade an impending arrest.
She further contended that, if released, Mr Letsoepa could influence or intimidate Crown witnesses.
The Crown also argued that granting bail to a former police commissioner who had allegedly evaded justice for eight years could be perceived as leniency towards powerful individuals and could undermine public confidence in the justice system.
Adv Mofilikoane further submitted that, given that his co-accused former Hlotse Police Station Commander Senior Superintendent Thabo Tšukulu had been denied bail, the court should apply constitutional principles of equality and equal protection of the law.
However, delivering her judgment, Justice Ralebese held that only two of the circumstances raised by the defence could potentially qualify as exceptional.
“The petitioner has put forth various circumstances as exceptional warranting his release on bail. Among them, only two can potentially qualify as exceptional circumstances, and they are that he has an unassailable defence to the Crown’s case, and secondly that he has chronic illnesses, namely diabetes and hypertension, which require special care and treatment that the Lesotho Correctional Services cannot provide,” Justice Ralebese said.
The judge dismissed the argument that the petitioner’s family’s financial difficulties constituted an exceptional circumstance, stating that such factors were neither exceptional nor a cogent consideration for bail.
She added that issues such as cooperation with the police and whether the accused was a flight risk were factors to be considered together with any exceptional circumstances when determining whether the interests of justice permit someone’s release on bail.
Justice Ralebese was also critical of the Crown’s failure to outline evidence implicating Mr Letsoepa.
“The Crown has not furnished any prima facie proof of the petitioner’s involvement in the charged offence,” she said.
She noted that while the prosecution argued that disclosing such evidence would amount to traversing the merits of the case, the court could not assess the petitioner’s claimed innocence without at least a summary of the evidence.
“Given the Crown’s failure in that regard, the only inference and foregone conclusion that this Court can reach is that the Crown has no strong case against the petitioner,” Justice Ralebese ruled.
The court consequently granted Mr Letsoepa bail on condition that he pays a M7 000 bail deposit, stands trial to finality, does not interfere with Crown witnesses, does nothing to undermine the interests of justice, attends all remand proceedings unless excused by the court, and reports to Police Headquarters on the last Friday of every month.
“Nothing in the circumstances suggests that the interests of justice will be prejudiced should the petitioner be released on bail,” Justice Ralebese ruled.
Mr Letsoepa is charged alongside four other police officers for the 2016 murder of Police Constable Khetheng. He fled the country in 2017, claiming that he feared for his life after then Prime Minister Tom Thabane stripped him of his police bodyguards.
Upon his return in February this year, Mr Letsoepa was arrested and formally charged on 26 February 2025. He later applied for bail, which was initially granted by Justice Ralebese in August but overturned by the Court of Appeal last month due to the fact that the judge had conducted the proceedings in her chambers.
PC Khetheng’s family had successfully challenged the August granting of bail in the Court of Appeal.
Former Hlotse Police Station Commander Senior Superintendent Thabo Tšukulu, Superintendent Mathibeli Mofolo, Inspector Mabitle Matona, and Sub-Inspector Haleokoe Taasoane remain behind bars following their arrest in 2017.
