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hat exactly is happening with Lehlohonolo Scott? For those still stuck in medieval times and don’t follow Facebook or Twitter, Scott is that scumbag who hacked to death two unsuspecting Basotho, Maholobela Seetsa and Kamohelo Mohata, last year in the idiotic belief that harvesting their body parts will suddenly protuberate his pockets.
Scott was subsequently arrested with her co-conspirator, her mother ’Malehlohonolo Scott.
The story of their arrest transfixed the Kingdom because of the sheer brutality of their crimes. Scott, the son, subsequently escaped from jail, James Bond-style, and has never been accounted for.
Because of the high level of interest generated by this story, one would have thought that the coalition government would have handled this issue with utmost care and respect for Basotho. But alas, what has happened is nothing short of shameful.
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irst, we had Correctional Services and Law Minister Mophato Monyake announcing that Scott had been arrested in South Africa with the help of a private security company he claimed to have hired for that purpose. Monyake was on every news channel announcing the “arrest”.
Then the circus began.
The Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS), refuted Monyake’s claims saying they were unaware of the arrest. Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s office supported the LMPS and virtually disowned Monyake.
Justice, Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Minister Haae Phoofolo weighed in and explained the difficulties involved in having Scott extradited. Phoofolo merely restricted his commentary to the technical details of the extradition process and shied away from the actual question of whetheror not Scott had been arrested. Being the experienced and astute lawyer he is, he perhaps knew better.
Scrutator will therefore spare him of any vitriol. For now, at least.
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ut the question of whether Scott was indeed arrested or not still lingers with no final clarity from the coalition government.
That the government has not found one voice on this matter is bamboozling. Whom should we believe? Was Scott arrested or not? Is he in detention in South Africa or not? Why is there so much discord from the government over what should be a simple and straight forward matter; the arrest of the Kingdom’s most wanted criminal?
If Scott was indeed arrested and is in South African custody, what could be possibly gained by hiding that “fact”?
I fail to understand why we cannot have one simple answer on this issue.
Did Monyake lie to this nation to try and achieve some political capital to aid his political ambitions? Which is which? What is what? If he so lied, then he must be fired forthwith for taking all of us for granted over such an important matter.
It is noteworthy that after the LMPS and Thabane’s rebuttals of the “arrest”, Monyake stood by his story and insisted he had nailed Scott.
Again I ask, what is going on here? We need answers please.
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crutator will not let this issue fade away. If Monyake played ping-pong with us over this important matter, his head must surely roll. Scrutator has also been counting the days. Monyake promised that Scott would be home in two weeks to face the music. The two weeks have already expired.
Scrutator will give Monyake an extension of another week, assuming that there were a few hurdles with the extradition proceedings that Monyake claimed he had been working on with his South African counterpart, Jeff Radebe.
By December 14, I want to see Scott in leg irons in the yard at Maseru Central Prison.
The other thing Monyake could do to vindicate his reputation is to simply go where Scott is being held and take a photograph of the killer in custody of whoever is holding him.
Scrutator will happily publish the photograph of Monyake and his bounty in this column.
The onus remains on Monyake to prove that Scott is indeed in custody. Monyake also bears the task of proving that perhaps Thabane and the LMPS had temporarily taken leave of their brains when they contradicted Monyake’s arrest claims.
If it turns out, as some rumours suggest, that Monyake created a story to enhance his profile ahead of the All Basotho Convention (ABC)’s elective conference next year, at which he is allegedly seeking the deputy leadership of the party, then Monyake surely owes this nation some answers.
If Monyake lied, the only way out for him will be to seek Scrutator’s help in getting Scott arrested.
You see, I have already declared Scott a scumbag and killer in this article.
In journalistic standards, that is highly defamatory. Conclusive labels must only be put on the foreheads of criminals once they are convicted in court. However, Scrutator loves to jettison such legal and journalistic niceties.
I firmly believe that Scott is guilty and the onus is on him to prove himself innocent. If Scott wasn’t guilty, why would he brazenly escape from lawful police custody? Why would he not wait for his day in court?
If he thinks I am being unfair on him, then Scott must emerge from his cave and serve me with summons for defamation. I promise that upon receiving these, I will immediately nail him and put him under my own protective custody. I will then call a press conference to announce Scott’s arrest while parading him before the cameras. At least that will be a happy ending to the current Monyake-led circus. So, come on Scott with the summons and save Ntate Monyake’s political career.
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case in the Maseru Magistrate court this week has left Scrutator wholly dumbfounded by the state of some human minds.
The court sentenced a 35-year-old man and his female partner, both from Thaba Tseka, to 15 years in jail. Their crime: the two persuaded the latter’s 13-year-old daughter to have sex with the former, his stepfather.
The 13-year-old revealed that her mother once asked her to agree to marry her stepfather saying if she refused, he would stop assisting them and they would not have food.
She said one day her mother left saying she was going to work, leaving her with her stepfather who started raping her incessantly. When she fell sick, both parents asked her not to tell anyone because the stepfather would be arrested and they would not have food.
“After I had healed, my stepfather started having intercourse with me again,” she told the court.
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ell, stories of rogue step fathers abusing step-daughters are nothing new. But this one represents a scaling of new incomprehensible heights.
Having a biological mother actually aid the abuse of her teenage daughter takes human greed to another level.
What is worse is that the mother even had the audacity to tell the court that she was sorry and she would not do it again.
Who will guard the daughters if mothers love their food so much that they would engage in this kind of debauchery.
What a pity that the two parents were sentenced to the measly 15-year jail sentences each. This is the problem with modern justice.
The best form of justice here would have been to castrate the stepfather’s entire genitalia while throwing the woman into the deepest parts of Katse Dam.
Ache!
