—lawyers seek to exclude evidence
Moorosi Tsiane
MEDICAL doctor, Mobashshar Hassan, who examined the three police officers accused of the March 2016 murder of Police Constable, Mokalekale Khetheng, has told the High Court that the trio were tortured after their 2017 arrest.
Dr Hassan, while being led in evidence by one of the defence lawyers, Advocate Zwelakhe Mda KC, informed the trial judge, Justice Charles Hungwe, that he had examined Superintendent Mathibeli Mofolo, Inspector Mabitle Matona and sub-Inspector Haleokoe Taasoane on 8 August 2017 at the Maseru Central Correctional Institute.
He said he discovered that the three had been assaulted shortly before they were remanded in custody.
Dr Hassan said Supt Mofolo complained of numbness on his left hand’s second finger, pain on his wrists and in his back.
“My findings on Mofolo were an old scratch on his both hands, soft tissue injury from the assault he said he suffered, and he had a neurological condition on his hands as it looked like something had tightened them, so I referred him to an SOPD (surgical outpatient department). I also prescribed him some pain relief,” said Dr Hassan.
Dr Hassan further informed the court that on the same day, he examined Insp Matona who also complained of pain on his wrists. He said he also found scratches on the right side of his forehead, on the wrists, and left elbow.
“In a same manner when I was interviewing him (Matona) he informed me that he had been assaulted a few days back and was complaining of pain on his wrists. I prescribed him an injection as a pain relief,” he said.
Lastly, Dr Hassan said he examined Sub-Insp Taasoane who also informed him that he had been assaulted and had pain on his buttocks.
His findings on him were a scratch on the left hand, tenderness on the buttocks which caused by assault, and a soft tissue injury due to assault. He also prescribed him some painkillers.
The trio is currently standing trial alongside their former boss, ex-Hlotse Police Station commander, Senior Superintended (SSP) Thabo Tšukulu.
They stand accused of murdering PC Khetheng in March 2016 and disposing his body at Ha Setho in the outskirts of Maseru, before burying it along with other unidentified corpses at Lepereng Cemetery in Maseru.
The ongoing trial within trial was launched in December last year to establish if the pointing out of PC Khetheng’s corpse done by the police was done free and voluntarily.
This was after the defence sought to challenge the admissibility of the evidence given by the state witness, Inspector Rapelang Nkeane, who had told the court that Messers Mofolo, Matona and Taasoane had voluntarily taken the police team investigating the case to where they had buried PC Khetheng’s body.
He told the court that he had been assigned together with then Insp (Beleme) Lebajoa, one Sergeant (Sgt) Thamae, one Lance Sgt Mohoang and PCs Lethoko, Seutloali and Chabalala to investigate the case.
He said Insp Lebajoa was the one leading the case and their investigations led them to the three accused, Messers Mofolo, Matona and Taasoane.
Insp Nkeane said the accused led them to Ha Setho where they pointed at the exact spot where they dumped PC Khetheng’s body.
Adv Karabo Mohau KC and Kabelo Letuka represents SSP Tšukulu in the matter while Sup Mofolo, Insp Matona and PC Taasoane are represented by Adv Mda KC. Adv Moshoeshoe stood in for Adv Mohau KC and Letuka.
PC Khetheng was last seen alive while being arrested by his colleagues at a traditional feast in Sebothoane, Leribe, on 25 March 2016.
He had been arrested on allegations that he had torched the house of his superior in Mokhotlong district where he was deployed.
Snr Supt Tṧukulu had at the time, during a habeas corpus application, claimed that PC Khetheng had left the Hlotse Police Station without being noticed, and they did not know where he had gone. For its part, the Khetheng family argued that the police should know where he was because they had arrested him.
A habeas corpus application usually filed by relatives, mostly when one has been arrested or detained by the state institutions. The Khetheng family had filed a habeas corpus application after Hlotse police officers arrested PC Khetheng at a feast in Sebothoane, Leribe, shortly before he “disappeared”.
PC Khetheng’s remains were eventually exhumed at Lepereng Cemetery on 11 August 2017. This after the police were granted an order for such by the Maseru Magistrates’ Court and the alleged perpetrators had pointed to the spot where his body was buried.
Their lawyers are trying to have that pointing evidence excluded on the basis that it was not obtained voluntarily. Evidence obtained through torture or coercion is deemed inadmissible in criminal trials.
