Mohloai Mpesi
At least 880 serious crimes were recorded by the police from January to May this year, a 26 percent increase from the previous year’s figures.
The latest statistics represent cases that were actually probed and prosecuted by the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS).
Last year the police detected a total of 697 cases, marking a 183-case increase in the same period from January to May.
Commissioner of Police, Borotho Matsoso, shared the statistics with the Lesotho Times recently.
The Serious Crime Statistics report indicates the 26 percent increase in detected cases from January to May 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. Last year, the LMPS detected 18 armed robbery cases, 97 assault GBH (grievous bodily harm) cases, 28 attempted murder cases, 2 car thefts, 9 fraud cases, 120 housebreaking cases, 188 murders, 12 robbery cases, 170 sexual offenses, and 53 stock theft cases.
In January to May 2024, the LMPS detected 12 armed robbery cases, 109 assault GBH cases, 33 attempted murder cases, 9 car thefts, 14 fraud cases, 196 housebreaking cases, 199 murders, 25 robbery cases, 221 sexual offenses, and 62 stock theft cases.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Tebello Tṧephe, from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), attributed the high detection rate to workshops aimed at honing police expertise.
“We had about two refresher workshops focused on crime scene management and docket management,” ACP Tṧephe told the Lesotho Times.
“These workshops were for managers of units falling under CID which are comprised of CID itself, Child and Gender Protection Unit and Trafficking in Persons unit. These were meant to remind ourselves about evidence handling in order not to lose cases.”
ACP Tšephe also stated that an increase in police vehicles had significantly contributed to the improved crime detection rate.
The government capacitated the LMPS with 75 vehicles in November last year to help it combat crime.
“Having more vehicles has allowed us to quickly attend to crime scenes and manage investigations more efficiently,” he said.
ACP Tšephe also mentioned that LMPS was working closely with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to prosecute investigated cases.
“Generally, we are working well with the DPP’s office to prosecute cases. However, there might be problems relating to the complexity of a case itself.
“But to have such high detection, it is because the DPP managed to prosecute such cases. The detected cases are the cases that are already in court.”
Despite these improvements, ACP Tšephe acknowledged ongoing challenges, such as community members’ reluctance to come forward with information.
“We still face issues where people are afraid to provide information, which makes it harder to identify perpetrators compared to when the community cooperates. In some incidents, we would know the perpetrators but they would have run away, mostly across the border,” he added.
Overall, serious crimes increased by 2 percent from January to May 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. A total of 4960 serious crime cases were reported this year, up from 4845 cases last year, marking an increase of 115 cases. Of the 4960 reported cases, the 880 were the ones actually taken to court after completion of investigations.
According to the statistics, armed robbery, car theft, murder, and housebreaking cases declined by 29 percent, 12 percent, 4 percent, and 3 percent respectively. However, robbery, sexual offenses, common assault, attempted murder, and fraud increased by 22 percent, 19 percent, 19 percent, 9 percent, and 4 percent respectively.
Although murder statistics decreased from 345 to 330 in the same period, the cases recorded this year were some of the most heinous in nature. Many of these murders were attributed to famo-related killings, driven by revenge chains.
The regions of Leribe and Berea witnessed the most terrible killings this year, with 43 people murdered in Berea and 69 in Leribe from January to May. In comparison, the same period last year saw 31 murder cases in Berea and 60 in Leribe.
The most chilling murder events occurred in these regions too. In Leribe, six people, including five from the same family, were killed in April, while three were murdered in a public bar in May. March was particularly brutal, with 10 people killed in Berea and 27 in Leribe.
This prompted the Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, Lebona Lephema, to ban famo groups through the Internal Security (declaration of unlawful organisations) gazetted on 10 May 2024.
Although it appears to be having little effect, ACP Tšephe said it was too early to speak about the impact of the ban, instead saying results would be visible in due course.
