Moorosi Tsiane
THE defence in the long-running treason trial of former army commander Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli and politicians Mothetjoa Metsing and Selibe Mochoboroane has accused the police of tampering with evidence at Police Headquarters. The defence says the police repaired a bullet-damaged door while the case is still before the courts.
Defence lawyer Advocate (Adv) Lepeli Molapo made the allegations on Monday while cross-examining the Crown’s 10th witness, Sergeant Mokete Litulo. The cross-examination dealt with events in the Police Headquarters radio room on the night of 29 to 30 August 2014, when police Sub-Inspector Mokheseng Ramahloko was shot dead.
Adv Molapo told Sgt Litulo that the defence had engaged an expert to examine the crime scene. He said it was surprising that the scene had since been altered.
He said the defence expert had found that one of the doors at Police Headquarters, which was allegedly shot during the August 2014 events, had been repaired and that a bullet hole had been covered.
“If the bullet that killed Sub-Inspector Ramahloko went through the door and was lodged in a wooden cabinet in the office, a spent bullet would have been found and taken for ballistics,” Adv Molapo said.
“It is amazing that the police would do such [a thing] while the case is still proceeding before the court. Now it comes to my attention that the police did not conduct proper investigations into the matter.”
Sgt Litulo denied the allegation. He said repairs had been carried out in the radio room where the shooting occurred and that no particular spot had been deliberately targeted.
Adv Molapo further alleged that Sgt Litulo, his colleagues and some politicians had hatched a plan to implicate the soldiers while they were holed up in Ladybrand, South Africa.
The allegation followed Sgt Litulo’s evidence-in-chief that he fled to South Africa after the events of 30 August 2014, together with the then Commissioner of Police, Khothatso Tšooana, and some politicians. Then Prime Minister Thomas Thabane also fled to South Africa at the time. He returned days later under the protection of the South African police.
“I put it to you that if you had fled to South Africa, as you allude, you should at least have reported to the police or applied for political asylum,” Adv Molapo said.
“I put it to you that the purpose of your meeting there was for the police to plot and implicate soldiers for wrongdoing. That is why the COMPOL [Commissioner of Police] did not even report himself to his counterpart, because you were planning how to implicate these soldiers.”
Earlier in the trial, in his evidence-in-chief, Sgt Litulo told the court that the violence was not confined to Police Headquarters. He said several other police stations were also affected, including the Maseru Central Charge Office, the Serious Crime Unit offices at Pitso Ground and the Ha Mabote police station.
He said that when he arrived in Ladybrand, where he had sought refuge out of fear for his life, he discovered that several other police officers had also fled there.
Lt-Gen Kamoli, Mr Metsing and Mr Mochoboroane are jointly charged with Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) members Captain Litekanyo Nyakane, Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) Leutsoa Motsieloa and L/Cpl Motloheloa Ntsane. Mr Metsing is a former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). Mr Mochoboroane is the Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition and leader of the Movement for Economic Change (MEC).
The accused face a raft of charges, including treason, the murder of Sub-Inspector Ramahloko and the attempted murder of Letsekang Mothibeli. They also face alternative charges relating to the alleged risk of injury or death and aggravated assault. These involve police officers Kamoho Mahanetse, Thabisa Kopa, Shaabe Thamae and Sgt Litulo himself, and an officer identified only as Constable Mone. All the accused have pleaded not guilty.
Sub-Inspector Ramahloko was killed in the early hours of 30 August 2014, when soldiers under Lt-Gen Kamoli’s command raided several police stations in Maseru. The army said the raids were a mission to disarm the police. It claimed it had intelligence that the weapons were to be handed to youth members of Dr Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) to attack supporters of Mr Metsing’s LCD. The Crown describes the events as an attempted coup.
The trial is before Justice ‘Maliepollo Makhetha. The Crown is represented by Advocates Motene Rafoneke and Rethabile Setlojoane. The defence team comprises Advocates Motiea Teele KC, Letuka Molati, Lepeli Molapo, Kabelo Letuka and Napo Mafaesa.
The trial continues.
