{"id":63906,"date":"2025-11-06T17:59:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng"},"modified":"2025-11-06T18:36:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:36:26","slug":"i-never-arrested-khetheng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng","title":{"rendered":"I never arrested Khetheng"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo T\u0161ukulu, has distanced himself from the March 2016 killing of Police Constable (PC) Mokalekale Khetheng, telling the High Court that he had neither arrested nor seen the slain officer on the day he went missing.<\/p>\n<p>Testifying as the second defence witness before Justice Charles Hungwe, SSP T\u0161ukulu said he never met PC Khetheng on the day of his disappearance.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing his testimony on Monday and Tuesday this week, he explained that he had instructed his subordinates to tell Khetheng to wait for him \u2014 only to return from lunch and find him gone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn March 2016, I was acting as the District Police Commander (DISPOL) because the then DISPOL, Senior Superintendent Letsosa, was ill and off duty from the 1st to the 27th,\u201d SSP T\u0161ukulu told the court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI received a call from Mokhotlong DISPOL, SSP Makara, who said there was a police officer, Mokalekale Khetheng, who was not reporting for duty. He asked me to find him so that they could talk directly on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he then instructed Inspector Mofolo to look for PC Khetheng at Sebothoane, where he lived.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn 26 March 2016, during lunchtime, Insp Mofolo called to inform me that Khetheng had been found and brought to the station. I instructed that he be told to wait for me until I returned from lunch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said when he returned, PC Khetheng had disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUpon my arrival, I instructed that PC Khetheng be brought to me, but he could no longer be found. Even later in the afternoon, it was reported that he was still missing. I called DISPOL Mokhotlong, SSP T\u0161eea Makara, and informed him that PC Khetheng had been brought to Hlotse Police Station, but I never met him because he had disappeared,\u201d SSP T\u0161ukulu testified.<\/p>\n<p>He denied ever telling SSP Phahla Letsosa (the first state witness) that he had arrested PC Khetheng or that he had assembled a team to interrogate him \u2014 contradicting the earlier testimony of SSP Letsosa, who had been led in examination by former prosecutor Shaun Abrahams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not true that SSP Letsosa came to the police station that day and I told him I had arrested Khetheng. It is not true that I told him I had assembled people to interview him. I never had any conversation with him regarding Khetheng or his fate,\u201d SSP T\u0161ukulu said.<\/p>\n<p>He further recalled that in May 2016, Khetheng\u2019s father, Thabo Khetheng, and a relative, Lesala Khetheng, visited him at the police station looking for the missing officer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told him that his son had indeed been at the station but was not arrested. I advised him to go to the charge office and open a missing person\u2019s case,\u201d SSP T\u0161ukulu said.<\/p>\n<p>He continues his testimony today under cross-examination by his lawyer, King\u2019s Counsel Karabo Mohau.<\/p>\n<p>SSP T\u0161ukulu is jointly charged with the March 2016 murder of PC Khetheng and the dumping of his body at Ha Setho, on the outskirts of Maseru.<\/p>\n<p>PC Khetheng had been arrested on arson charges but was never seen alive again. At the time, police officers claimed he had disappeared from custody. His remains were later exhumed from Lepereng Cemetery in Maseru in August 2017.<\/p>\n<p>SSP T\u0161ukulu was subsequently arrested and charged with murder alongside Senior Inspector Mothibeli Mofolo, Senior Inspector Mabitle Matona, Sub-Inspector Haleokoe Taasoane, and former Defence Minister and Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) deputy leader, T\u0161eliso Mokhosi.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Mokhosi, who served in the Pakalitha Mosisili-led coalition government from 2015 to 2017, was released in July 2020 after the state withdrew charges against him and turned him into a witness.<\/p>\n<p>Former Police Commissioner, Molahlehi Letsoepa, had also been removed from the list of the accused after fleeing the country in 2017, claiming that the then Thomas Thabane administration wanted to kill him. He was in February this year charged separately after voluntarily returning from self-imposed exile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Lesotho<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo T\u0161ukulu, has distanced himself from the March 2016 killing of Police Constable (PC) Mokalekale Khetheng, telling the High Court that he had neither arrested nor seen the slain officer on the day he went missing. Testifying as the second defence witness before Justice [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":63905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-63906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I never arrested Khetheng - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo Ts\u030cukulu, has distanced himself from the March ...\" \/>\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\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I never arrested Khetheng\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo Ts\u030cukulu, has distanced himself from the March ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\" \/>\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=\"2025-11-06T17:59:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T18:36:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1655\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1089\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"I never arrested Khetheng\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T17:59:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-06T18:36:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\"},\"wordCount\":673,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\",\"name\":\"I never arrested Khetheng - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T17:59:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-06T18:36:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo Ts\u030cukulu, has distanced himself from the March ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg\",\"width\":1655,\"height\":1089,\"caption\":\"I never arrested Khetheng\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I never arrested Khetheng\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I never arrested Khetheng - Lesotho","description":"FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo Ts\u030cukulu, has distanced himself from the March ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I never arrested Khetheng","og_description":"FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo Ts\u030cukulu, has distanced himself from the March ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-11-06T17:59:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-06T18:36:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1655,"height":1089,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"I never arrested Khetheng","datePublished":"2025-11-06T17:59:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-06T18:36:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng"},"wordCount":673,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng","name":"I never arrested Khetheng - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-06T17:59:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-06T18:36:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"FORMER Leribe District Police Commander, Senior Superintendent (SSP) Thabo Ts\u030cukulu, has distanced himself from the March ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1762441342.715671.jpg","width":1655,"height":1089,"caption":"I never arrested Khetheng"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/i-never-arrested-khetheng#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I never arrested Khetheng"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}