Police record reduced crime levels

Lineo Malataliana

The Lesotho Mounted Police Service earlier this week released a more detailed report on the level of criminal activity between December 30, 2023 to January 1, 2024 which also compares the levels of crime during the same period in 2022.  Last week police released a similar report on the same periods. Police spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, presented the report at a media briefing at Police Headquarters in Maseru.

There was a case of armed robbery in 2022 and none in 2023. There were seven counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in 2022 but only three such cases were reported in 2023. There were 22 counts of house break-ins in 2022, which increased to 26 in 2023.  In the case of murder, there were 26 reported cases in 2022 but only nine in 2023. There were 10 cases of sexual assault reported in 2022 and nine in 2023. There were two reported cases of illegal possession of firearms in 2022 and none reported in 2023.

The report also paid special attention to murder crimes by unfolding its statistics, in the same time frame, that is, between December 30, 2023 and January 1, 2024.

There were nine cases of people who died due to assault in 2022 and three in 2023. There were two cases of deaths by unnatural causes in 2022 and none in 2023. There were six cases of people who died as a result of gunshot wounds in 2022 and three such incidents in 2023. Of those who died through stab wounds, police in 2022 recorded eight cases against two in 2023. There was one case of death by strangulation in 2022 and none in 2023.

This crime statistics were also divided into male, female, and age categories. In 2022, there two females aged between 19 and 60 against 24 males aged between 6 months to 60 years.

In 2023, there were two females aged 32 and 48 and seven males aged between 25 and 51. There were eight suspects in both 2022 and 2023 while in 2022, two suspects had been charged and convicted, with three suspects having been remanded by the end of the report. In 2023, two suspects’ cases are ready for hearing while five have been remanded.