Drama unfolded in the High Court this week when defence lawyers for the Rasekoai sisters strongly challenged the use of cellphone records in their murder trial, arguing that the evidence was obtained illegally and violated the accused persons’ constitutional right to privacy.
The matter was before Justice ’Maliepollo Makhetha, where sisters Nthei Rasekoai and ’Mamphoka Rasekoai stand charged with the murder of their mother, Martha Rasekoai.
The alleged crime is said to have occurred on July 25, 2022, at their home in Masowe 4, after which the deceased’s body was allegedly dumped in a donga where it was later discovered.
During proceedings, defence lawyer Advocate Makhabane Masupha applied for the court to hold what is known as a “trial within a trial”, a separate legal process conducted within the main trial to determine whether certain evidence was lawfully obtained and whether it should be admitted.
Advocate Masupha explained that, in law, a trial within a trial is often held to determine whether evidence was legally and constitutionally obtained before it can be used against an accused person. The application arose after the defence objected to the testimony of Moneri Mochochoko, a Senior Specialist in Management Information Systems at Vodacom Lesotho. Mochochoko was called by the prosecution to testify about cellphone records allegedly linked to the accused.
The defence argued that Mochochoko should not be allowed to continue giving evidence until the court first determines whether the cellphone records were lawfully obtained. Advocate Masupha told the court that the accused never gave consent for their cellphone records to be accessed. He further argued that they were not made parties to the proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court where the prosecution obtained a court orde
