Lesotho PM’s wife released on bail ahead of murder trial

LESOTHO - The wife of Lesotho’s prime minister was freed on bail overnight ahead of her trial for the murder of his previous wife, her lawyer said yesterday, but police said they feared she could flee justice if allowed to travel abroad for medical reasons.

Maesaiah Thabane was detained and charged this week for the murder of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s estranged wife Lipolelo, who was shot dead near her home in Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, on June 14, 2017, aged 58. Maesaiah, who is now 42, denies any guilt in the case. Thabane, now 80, took office two days after the killing, then two months later he and

Maesaiah got married.

The case has stunned citizens of Lesotho, an independent kingdom lying in the middle of a South African mountain range.

The trial is currently scheduled for Feb. 18, but her lawyer Rethabile Setlojoane said Maesaiah Thabane would travel to South Africa on Thursday for a medical examination.

“My client is entitled to bail. She is still innocent until proven guilty by the courts of law. She is not a flight risk,” Setlojoane told Reuters by phone.

Setlojoane said she would not comment on the allegations against her client as she had yet to enter a plea.

The deputy police commissioner (DCP), Paseka Mokete, said police feared the suspect could now evade justice. “Had we been allowed to oppose the bail, we would have raised the possibility of her escape,” he told Reuters, noting she had disappeared when police first tried to question her.

“We are of the view that should she skip the country, it will be very easy for her (to escape),” he said, adding that if she failed to turn up they would seek assistance from South African authorities to seize her.

Lipolelo and Thabane were going through an acrimonious divorce at the time of her killing.

Mokete said police believe Maesaiah Thabane had hired eight assassins to kill Lipolelo and had not actually been present at the shooting herself.

Mokete said police had tried in December to question the prime minister after it was found that his phone had been used to call one of the assassins shortly after the killing, but that Thabane had said family members always use his phone.

“We are yet to determine whether or not he is a suspect,” he said.

Thabane has declined speak publicly about case. (Reuters) to the