CRIME WATCH

LINEO MALATALIANA

Four arrested for assault

MOHALE’S HOEK – Three men and an elderly woman who allegedly assaulted the woman’s 22-year-old live-in lover are expected to appear in the Mohale’s Hoek Magistrate’s Court on November 30 to stand trial.

The four include Moletsane Monare, 45, Likhang Mpopo, 20, and Thapelo Phangoa, 19, along with ’Majoalane Mofolo, 66, all from Mohalinyane, Linareng.  They made their maiden appearance in the same court on November 13 and were released on M3, 000 bail each.

Evidence before the court shows that Mofolo accused her young lover of being disrespectful, and she consequently invited the three co-accused to help her assault him.

The victim sustained several bruises on the body and a stab wound on the head from a scissor. Medical reports also presented in court show that the victim’s skull was cracked from the brutal beating he received, causing mental problems. It emerged that the victim is Mofolo’s step grandson, as she is his grandfather’s second wife.

Police search for killers

MAFETENG – Police are searching for unidentified assailants who stormed a Tšakholo home on November 10, killing five members of that family by shooting them. The deceased included an 82-year-old man, his 43-year-old son, his two grandchildren aged 16 and 13, and the family shepherd aged 28. It was alleged that the unknown attackers stormed the homestead at around 8.30 p.m. and assaulted the members of the family with some sharp instruments before shooting them dead.

Police reports show that the deceased were killed in the family’s main five-roomed house, and the bodies were later moved to a hut within the courtyard, where attempts to burn them were unsuccessful. The police recovered empty shells of a 9mm pistol at the scene of the crime. An abandoned vehicle, a Honda Fit with broken windows, was also found outside the family’s courtyard. The windows of the five-room house were also broken.

Jailed for baby dumping

MOKHOTLONG – A Ha Leboko woman who dumped her nearly-born baby into a pit latrine was this week slapped with a three-year jail term after the Mokhotlong Magistrate’s Court convicted her of concealing the birth of the child.  Setšabelo Ponoane, 23, of Mahesheleng, was granted an option to pay a M1, 000 fine, which she failed to raise before she was sent to prison.

The woman was seven months pregnant when she took some labour-inducing pills. After the premature birth of the child on October 25, she deposed the infant in a pit latrine.

Police were notified after members of the community discovered that the woman was no longer pregnant. The infant’s remains were recovered on November 7 and buried.

Woman jailed for child negligence

LERIBE  – A Lisemeng woman who was found guilty of leaving her underage child unattended while she went out at night was sentenced to a month in jail by the Leribe Magistrate’s Court.

Lilian Makhalemele, 29, appeared in the Leribe Magistrate’s Court on November 6 on charges of neglecting her child, aged 12. The court, however, granted her an option to pay a fine of M1, 000, which she failed to pay.