MASERU
A defence lawyer in the high-profile trial of nine army members accused of murdering former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Commander, Lieutenant General MaaparankoeMahao, says testimony given in court is not about justice but about damaging the name of his client.
Advocate Letuka Molati told the High Court that evidence by Retired Commissioner of Police (COMPOL) Kizito Mhlakazawas nothing more than an attempt to “assassinate the character” of Army Commander Lieutenant General TlaliKamoli, one of the accused in the case.
Retired COMPOL Mhlakaza, testifying as a state witness, painted a picture of years of hostility and lack of cooperation between the police and the army during the time when he led the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) and Kamolicommanded the LDF.
He recalled an incident at Ha-Motanyane, Mafeteng, in April 2012 involving five soldiers and three civilians.
According to Mhlakaza, the police needed cooperation from the army so that the firearms used in the matter could be released for investigations. But the army, under Lt Gen Kamoli, never responded.
Mhlakaza said he later wrote to the army again, asking for assistance in ensuring that the implicated soldiers appear before the Mafeteng Magistrate’s Court for remand. Once more, he said, there was no response and the soldiers never appeared in court.
Even when the court issued a summons, Mhlakaza told the judges that the army, through its Military Police, refused to accept them, arguing that they had no instruction to do so.
The retired police chief added that the standoff dragged on for years, with even senior political leaders unable to resolve it. Former Prime Minister Motsoahae Thabane and the then Minister of Law and Constitutional Affairs, MophatoMonyake, both attempted to intervene, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
“When I retired in 2014, that case was still unresolved,” Mhlakaza testified.
But for Advocate Molati, all this has nothing to do with the matter before the court which is the killing of Lieutenant General Mahao in June 2015.
“The evidence is irrelevant. It does not speak to any of the charges in the indictment,” he told the court.
“General Kamoli is not even charged for the conduct being alleged through this evidence.”
Molati insisted that bringing up past clashes between the police and the army was only meant to taint his client’s image in the eyes of the court and the public.
“It is an attempt to assassinate his character,” he said firmly.
He asked the court to strike the testimony off the record, arguing that it would be unfair to allow evidence that is both unrelated and damaging to the accused.
For the defence, not every piece of history belongs in the courtroom.
“This trial must deal with the charges in the indictment, nothing more,” Molati stressed.
