…as Sgt Moepi and Pvt Tikiso are sentenced to 20 years for 2017 triple murder
By Moorosi Tsiane
HIGH Court Judge Moroke Mokhesi has warned members of Lesotho’s security forces against taking the law into their own hands, saying extrajudicial killings by law-enforcement officers erode public confidence in State security institutions.
The warning came this week as Justice Mokhesi sentenced retired Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Sergeant (Sgt) Lekhooa Moepi and Private (Pvt) Tieho Tikiso to 20 years’ imprisonment each for their roles in the 2017 abduction and murder of three men — Lekhoele Noko, Khothatso Makibinyane and Molise Pakela — whose bodies were later dumped into Mohale Dam.
Justice Mokhesi said the case was particularly serious because the two convicted men were members of the army who had used their positions to participate in the unlawful killing of civilians.
“The accused as members of the army should not be seen to be taking the law into their own hands, and extrajudicially executing the persons they feel strongly deserve punishment,” Justice Mokhesi said.
He said the involvement of security-force members in extrajudicial killings had consequences far beyond the immediate victims.
“Their involvement in extrajudicial killing of civilians in the circumstances of this case is an aggravating factor, as it erodes public confidence in the army as one of the law enforcement departments of the state.”
The case arose from an incident at the Maseru Border Post on 13 May 2017, when two LDF members and a street vendor were shot.
Pvt Halekhethe Nkonyana was seriously wounded, while Pvt Katleho Seliane and street vendor Moiketsi Makhabane were killed.
The shootings triggered a joint police and army investigation, during which Noko, Makibinyane and Pakela were among those arrested and detained.
The three were later released after investigators found their accomplice, Motlatsi Rantaoane, liable for shooting the two officers and Mr Makhabane. Rantaoane was in May 2023 sentenced to 31 years in relation to the border-post shootings.
According to the Crown’s case, Noko, Makibinyane and Pakela were subsequently abducted, unlawfully detained and killed on or about 16 May 2017 near Setibing in Maseru.
The Crown alleged that they were strangled before their bodies were transported and thrown into Mohale Dam. Their remains were recovered from the dam in September 2017.
Justice Mokhesi found that the killings were motivated by revenge over the deaths and injuries suffered during the border-post shooting.
“The soldiers were clearly enraged by this wanton act of one of the gang members, to the extent that they hatched a plan to kidnap and kill even those who had objectively, during police and army investigations, been exonerated from the fatal shooting of the army officer and the street vendor.”
He said the victims had effectively been hunted down despite being cleared of involvement in the earlier killings.
“The deceased were tracked, ambushed, and taken to far-flung areas of Maseru where they were murdered and thrown into the depths of Mohale dam.”
The judge stressed that members of the army could not assume the roles of investigators, prosecutors, judges and executioners.
The long-running trial eventually left Sgt Moepi and Pvt Tikiso as the only accused persons facing prosecution after eight others were discharged.
The trial began on 2 February 2022 but was repeatedly delayed by preliminary legal proceedings. A major delay involved a trial-within-a-trial on the admissibility of confessions and pointing-out evidence, which ran from February to December 2024. Judgment on the issue was delivered on 27 February 2025.
After the Crown closed its case, the accused applied for discharge in June 2025. The application was determined on 4 August 2025, resulting in the discharge of eight accused.
Moepi and Tikiso elected not to testify in their own defence.
Justice Mokhesi delivered the main judgment convicting the pair on 3 August 2026.
At sentencing, the judge considered both aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
Sgt Moepi had been arrested in September 2017 and remained in custody throughout the proceedings, later retiring from the army while in detention.
Pvt Tikiso was arrested on 29 September 2017, aged 25, and had only recently joined the army at the time. His youth and clean criminal record were considered in mitigation.
But Justice Mokhesi said those factors were outweighed by the seriousness of the offences.
“The fact that both accused have no previous convictions, while being a factor to be considered in mitigation, it pales into insignificance when seen in the light of the seriousness of the crime of murder.”
The judge also took issue with the absence of any clear expression of remorse from the two men.
“It is not clear to me that they are remorseful for what they did. Remorse is not measured from silence of the accused.”
Despite this, he said the court would not deny the accused the possibility of rehabilitation.
“This court is, however, prepared to extend mercy to this accused person, which they themselves failed to extend to the three men.”
Justice Mokhesi said there was no evidence that either accused had behaved badly while in custody.
“In my view, they are capable of being rehabilitated, as no report of their unbecoming behaviour while in detention was placed before this court.”
Defence counsel, Attorney Qhalehang Letsika, had asked for 12-year prison terms for each accused, but Justice Mokhesi rejected the proposal.
“I find this proposal insensitive to the gravity of the offences and therefore will not endorse it.”
The judge said the sentence had to send a clear message that unlawful killings would not be tolerated, particularly when committed by law-enforcement officers.
“The interests of the society and the victims of these crimes will be catered for by the sentence which reflects the gravity of these offenses, which sentences will also serve as a deterrence that taking the law into one’s hands will not be tolerated, especially when it is done by law-enforcement officers like the accused.”
Justice Mokhesi acknowledged that the two men might not have acted alone.
“I am fully mindful that these accused were not the only persons involved in the killing of these three men.”
However, he said the evidence before him specifically established the involvement of Moepi and Tikiso.
The judge also recognised Tikiso’s junior position in the army, saying he “could not have acted without superior orders to kill the three men”.
That, however, did not remove his criminal responsibility.
Moepi was sentenced to 20 years for murder of Noko and three years for his unlawful abduction, with the sentences running concurrently and without an option of a fine.
Tikiso received 20 years on each of the three murder counts, also without an option of a fine, with the sentences running concurrently.
The sentences were ordered to run from September 2017, with the period already spent in detention taken into account.
“All the sentences should run concurrently from 21 September 2017.”
