Maseru, May.08 — The High Court through Justice ‘Mabatsoeneng Hlaele has on Friday found Tsépo Tabola and Motsie Mochesane of Tloutle in Roma guilty of the murder of Molojoa Mabokoane which occurred on February 24 2020.
The accused had pleaded guilty to the charge and evidence presented to the court revealed that on the fateful day, two men wearing balaclavas arrived at the fields where the deceased and other people were removing weeds, and asked for a job.
It stated that the men were identified because Tabola uncovered his face while Mochesane was known to some of the witnesses.
It added that Mochesane accused the deceased of shooting him during an altercation which had occurred earlier.
It further revealed that the accused left with the deceased saying they wanted to talk to him but later returned without him.
It indicated that the deceased was later found injured in the Ramashamole Valley at Ha Matobo and unable to talk, adding that he was later taken by the police and was confirmed dead upon arrival at hospital.
The evidence showed that the accused surrendered themselves to the Roma Police on the following day together with murder weapons which are a knife and an axe.
A post-mortem presented to the court as part of evidence indicated that the deceased died due to skull fracture and severe brain injury.
In its judgment the Court remarked that the totality of the evidence corroborates each other adding that the accused were positively identified.
It pointed out that both accused were at the scene and were aware of the assault adding that they both shared a common purpose.
The Court stated that it was not convinced that Mochesane was the principal perpetrator adding that the time they spend at the scene and the types of injuries on the deceased makes one not believe that only one person killed the deceased and that Tabola was just a bystander who did not participate in the commission of the offence.
It pointed out that what could be said is that his participation was minimal because he did not have a motive as opposed to his co-accused.
It thus concluded that prosecution has established its case against the accused, beyond reasonable doubt and accordingly found both guilty as charged.
Ends/SM
