{"id":14917,"date":"2022-05-24T10:54:49","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T10:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court"},"modified":"2022-05-24T11:16:21","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T11:16:21","slug":"thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court","title":{"rendered":"Thabane murder charge still hanging at court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Police Commissioner, Holomo Molibeli, has to date not received any communication from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Advocate Hlalefang Motinyane, following submissions in court for the stay of Prime Minister Motsoahae Thabane\u2019s murder charge until the duo has agreed on certain aspects of the process.<\/p>\n

Molibeli told Public Eye on Wednesday this week that he has not had any discussion with Motinyane on the issue but that \u201cmaybe she is yet to communicate with me; we have not spoken about it.<\/p>\n

Public Eye<\/b><\/p>\n

sought Molibeli\u2019s comment after the office of the DPP shocked the nation this week with an announcement in court that they were not ready to charge Thabane despite having issued a directive that he be charged.<\/p>\n

The directive was issued by the DPP Motinyane. The DPP said she was not ready to charge until certain issues are communicated with the police commissioner.<\/p>\n

Thabane was expected to appear before court last Friday but failed to appear after his legal team reported he needed medical attention and was due for a medical consultation in South Africa. Police have implicated him in the murder of his late wife Lipolelo Thabane and later announced their intentions to charge him for murder.<\/p>\n

Thabane remains a suspect, despite not being charged on Monday when he appeared before the Maseru Magistrate Court, but police said he will be charged for his involvement in Lipolelo\u2019s murder, the attempted murder of Thato Sibolla who was driving with Lipolelo on the fateful day, as well as the malicious damage to property \u2013 a car they were travelling in.<\/p>\n

Despite appearing before Magistrate Phetise Motanyane on Monday this week, Thabane was not charged after the prosecution indicated they were not ready to go ahead and charge him because of his status.<\/p>\n

Advocate Mpati Mot\u0161oane told Magistrate Motanyane the DPP had instructed her to inform the court that Thabane should not be charged until she (DPP) has discussed certain issues with the Commissioner of Police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe understanding was that the accused is not just an ordinary citizen but the prime minister of the country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The discussion between Molibeli and Motinyane, according to Mot\u0161oane, will centre around the very fact that Thabane \u201cis not just an ordinary citizen but a prime minister of the country and that remanding him would result in serious implications.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sound like his lawyer; why did you issue a directive if you were not ready to proceed?\u201d Magistrate Motanyane asked, to which Mot\u0161oane replied that they were compelled to appear before court following rumours that a warrant of arrest would be issued on allegations that the suspect refused to appear before court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to put it on record that we are not ready to proceed as yet and further that withholding charges does not necessarily change the directive,\u201d Mot\u0161oane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there hasn\u2019t been any application to the effect that a warrant be given against the suspect, the last time I met with his lawyer and the investigator we learned that there is a sick note, there was no way a warrant could be granted having been made aware of the status of the suspect,\u201d Magistrate Motanyane said.<\/p>\n

Thabane\u2019s lawyer, Attorney Qhalehang Letsika said he was surprised to learn that the DPP was not ready to continue with the trial and said his client was ready to answer charges against him if any.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt cannot work like that, we cannot be called to court and then when we get to court we are told to wait a bit, it is not acceptable. A lot has been said about my client over the media all over the world and now he is told to wait\u2026\u201d Letsika remarked.<\/p>\n

He asked the court to refer a question to the High Court sitting as the Constitutional Court to establish whether the DPP is ready to proceed with charges against the prime minister.<\/p>\n

Letsika said the Constitutional Court should also answer three questions: The questions, Letsika said, will be referred to the Constitutional Court in terms of Section 128 (1) of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

The Section states: \u201cWhere any question as to the interpretation of this constitution arises in any proceedings, in any subordinate court or in any tribunals and the court or tribunal is of the opinion that the question involves a substantial question of law, the court or tribunal may or shall if the party to the proceedings so require refer the questions to the High Court.<\/p>\n

In response, the prosecution said Section 128 of the Constitution that Letsika purports to rely on states that the referral can only be made where proceedings have started. Mot\u0161oane said for the fact that the accused did not enter or a charge being read to him, it was an indication that proceedings have not started.<\/p>\n

She argued the questions raised by Letsika have been raised prematurely because there is no accused before court, adding that the questions are not constitutional in nature.<\/p>\n

Attorney Letsika replied that once they appeared before the magistrate, it meant a process of court has already started. The court agreed with him and eventually ruled that there is a substantial question of law in his application. The court granted the application, allowing Thabane to approach the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving heard submissions from both sides and on authority of the Court of Appeal in Mothobi and another vs the Crown to which this question was referred, I find that there is indeed a substantial question of law raised\u2026\u201d Magistrate Motanyane ruled.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Police Commissioner, Holomo Molibeli, has to date not received any communication from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Advocate Hlalefang Motinyane, following submissions in court for the stay of Prime Minister Motsoahae Thabane\u2019s murder charge until the duo has agreed on certain aspects of the process. Molibeli told Public Eye on Wednesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,245,614],"class_list":["post-14917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-thabane"],"yoast_head":"\nThabane murder charge still hanging at court - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Police Commissioner, Holomo Molibeli, has to date not received any communication from the Director of Public Prosecution ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thabane murder charge still hanging at court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Police Commissioner, Holomo Molibeli, has to date not received any communication from the Director of Public Prosecution ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-24T10:54:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-24T11:16:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_7-628cbe69a68ee.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"832\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Thabane murder charge still hanging at court\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-24T10:54:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-24T11:16:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court\"},\"wordCount\":941,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_7-628cbe69a68ee.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Thabane\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabane-murder-charge-still-hanging-at-court\",\"name\":\"Thabane murder charge still hanging at court - 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