MASERU — It was a typical case of road rage.
Two motorists were driving in opposite directions in Ha-Mabote in Berea.
They met along some narrow strip near a bar.
But the two drivers refused to let the other pass first.
In rage, a 30-year-old man pulled his gun and shot the other motorist.
Police spokesman Masupha Masupha said both men appeared to have been impatient.
“Both men could not give each other a chance to pass on the small road. The space was not enough for both cars to go through,” Masupha told a press briefing.
“There was no need for them to fight.”
The police spokesman said the suspect surrendered himself to Mabote police station after the incident.
He also handed in a 7.65 pistol to the police.
Masupha said the suspect confessed to the police that he had used the pistol to commit the crime.
He said the gun was also illegal.
Masupha said the suspect is facing charges of murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police investigations are continuing, Masupha said.
In Qacha’s Nek, five men were arrested on Thursday in connection with the ritual killing of three women and a one-year-old girl in July.
The women’s mutilated bodies were found at an illegal crossing point between Qacha’s Nek and Matatiele last month.
Matatiele is a South African town near Qacha’s Nek.
Masupha said the three women and a child were reported missing after they left home in June.
He said they left home to look for jobs in South Africa.
Masupha said their bodies were found three weeks after they had left home.
He said it is suspected that the four were murdered for ritual purposes.
“Two businessmen in Qacha’s Nek assigned the three men to murder women as they needed their blood.
“The businessmen needed to use the women’s blood for the success of their businesses,” he said.
The suspects were arrested following a tip-off by villagers.
The five men were found in possession of cell phones and luggage which belonged to the deceased women.
Masupha said the suspects had also confessed to the police that they abducted the women on their way to South Africa.
“They said they drove them to a place where they murdered them,” Masupha said.
The suspects were also found in possession of four illegal guns.
Masupha said the suspects will be charged with murder and illegal possession of firearms.
They are still in police custody.
