MASERU — A couple from Pitseng in Leribe appeared in the High Court on Tuesday last week charged with the murder of a man in 2001.
The crown alleges that Lefu Makhabeng and ‘Malebese Molati, murdered Molefi Paballo on July 9, 2001.
It is suspected that Paballo was having an affair with ’Malebese.
The court heard that Makhabeng and Molati murdered Paballo and covered his body with a plastic bag before dumping it in a forest.
An accomplice witness, Paramente Letsoso, told the High Court that sometime in July 2001, one Sofonia and Makhabeng arrived at his home and asked him to accompany them.
He said they told him that they wanted him to help them carry dagga from a place which they did not mention.
Letsoso said they went down a valley until they reached a forest where he saw a donkey fastened to a tree.
He said the duo told him to remain with the animal as they went further into the forest.
“When they came back they were holding a fertiliser plastic bag which seemed to be heavy,” Letsoso said.
“They told me to hold the donkey so that they could load the bag onto its back.
“I realised that the plastic bag was covering a human body because it only covered his head to the thighs.”
“I asked them what had happened to that person and they said they had shot him at ’Malebese’s place.”
He said he asked them who had specifically shot the deceased but none of them replied.
Letsoso told the court that they walked in silence for a long time in the bush until he told Makhabeng and Sofonia that he wanted to relieve himself.
Letsoso said when he noticed that they were a distance away he went back home.
“I did not know where they were going with that dead body,” he said.
He said Sofonia came to his home the following day and handed him a gun saying he should keep it until he came back from where he was going.
“But police arrived that night and demanded the gun. I was immediately arrested,” Letsoso said.
He told the court that he learnt some days later while in company of the police, Sofonia, Makhabeng and ‘Malebese that Paballo’s body was buried in that forest.
“We also went to a place called Mphosong together with the police where Makhabeng and Sofonia pointed at a field where they said they threw the dead body.
“But at the time there was nothing there,” he said Sofonia is still at large.
