One of the guards of Lesotho’s army commander, Lieutenant General Tlali Kennedy Kamoli, who was charged for murder, attempted murder and malicious damage to property has been discharged by the court.
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Feb. 28, 2020
2 min read
Court discharges Lt Gen Kamoli’s guard
IN DTENTION:Lt General Tlali Kamoli
Private Kopano Matsoso and two other guards, Corporal Tjekane Sebolai and Private Selone were part of a team guarding the residence of the now retired and incarcerated army Commander Lt General Kamoli in 2014 and were accused of having acted in common purpose and contravened the provisions of Section 40 (1) of the Penal Code Act No. 6 of 2010 read with 109 by allegedly murdering Lisebo Tang during an incident that happened at Ha Leqele, Sekoting on May 9, 2014.
They were also accused of attempted murder of Ts'epo Jane who was shot with rifles while he was with Tang during an incident that happened at the same time and venue. They were further charged with malicious damage to property in that they took part in the shooting and damaging of Jane’s vehicle (white Toyota Hilux 4x4) in the same incident.
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Following an application for discharge, the High Court on Friday February 28 discharged Private K Matsoso off all charges. The court then ordered that Matsoso be discharged in respect of all the three counts while his co-accused still have a case to answer in respect of all the three charges.
The orders were made after the court ruled that based on evidence before court, Matsoso was not at the crime scene as per witnesses who arrived at the scene and gave evidence before court. The court also ruled that the crown's opening statement confirms that Matsoso did not actively participate in the offences but after the fact joined issue with his colleagues.
Judge Kabelo Lebotse said he was satisfied that the matter was properly reported following chain of command adding that it would have been improper for Matsoso to skip the chain of command and report the incident to the police as the crown argued he ought to have done. He indicated that the alleged act of association and the argument that Matsoso ought to have reported the matter to the police had no merit.
He however pointed out that he was satisfied that the crown had established a prima facie case against Sobolai and Rats'iu, therefore they have a case to answer. The case is expected to proceed from May 11-15 2020 whereby the remaining two accused are expected to answer for the charges.
Metro/LeNa
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