{"id":9506,"date":"2022-02-02T08:29:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T08:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers"},"modified":"2022-02-02T09:07:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T09:07:21","slug":"crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers","title":{"rendered":"Crown, defence lawyers draw daggers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The prosecution was on Friday at loggerheads with the defence team in the ongoing former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Commander Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao murder trial.<\/p>\n

The lead prosecutor Advocate Shaun Abrahams objected to the document that the defence lawyer, Advocate Silas Ratau was using while examining the third state witness, Major General Poqa Motoa.<\/p>\n

This the defence did not take kindly to as they argued that the witness was able to identify and ascertain the statement which was made about him at the Court Martial.<\/p>\n

Advocate Abrahams said the document cannot stand in court as the evidence is about admissibility. The lead prosecutor objected that the document is not original.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Advocate Ratau charged at prosecution saying their objection was an \u201cafterthought\u201d as he was using it in cross-examining the witness. Advocate Napo Mafaesa, one of the defence counsel, said<\/p>\n

the trial needs to be approached in a manner befitting the \u201cinternational standards\u201d. The presiding judge, Justice Charles Hungwe made a ruling that the defence should ensure that they authenticate the document.<\/p>\n

Also one of the defence counsels, Advocate Kabelo Letuka accused the crown of lack of compliance with the court\u2019s decisions. He said in March last year, the court ruled that the prosecution should furnish the<\/p>\n

defence counsel with the recording of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sponsored Phumaphi Commission whose recommendations resulted in Mahao\u2019s murder case.<\/p>\n

SADC said they will release that material once the reforms are complete. This did not sit well with Advocate Letuka who told the court that they will devise their means to acquire those recordings adding that<\/p>\n

it is \u201cunfair\u201d on their clients. He said about 70 percent of the witnesses have testified in that Commission. Lieutenant General Mahao was allegedly killed by his<\/p>\n

colleagues at Mokema in the outskirts of Maseru in June 2015. The accused are former LDF Commander Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli and eight other soldiers Litekanyo Nyakane, Haleo Makara, Lekhooa<\/p>\n

Moepi, Motsamai Fako, Marasi Moleli, Mot\u0161oane Machai, T\u0161itso Ramoholi and Mohlalefi Seitlheko. The crown team is made up of Advocate Abrahams, Advocate<\/p>\n

\u2018Naki Nku and Advocate Motene Rafoneke. The defence team are Advocate Molati, Attorney Qhalehang<\/p>\n

Letsika, Advocate Ratau, Advocate Mafaesa and Advocate Letuka. Advocate Machaduka Wilson Mukhawana is watching the brief for Mahao\u2019s family. The case has been postponed to April 4.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The prosecution was on Friday at loggerheads with the defence team in the ongoing former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Commander Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao murder trial. The lead prosecutor Advocate Shaun Abrahams objected to the document that the defence lawyer, Advocate Silas Ratau was using while examining the third state witness, Major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-9506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nCrown, defence lawyers draw daggers - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The prosecution was on Friday at loggerheads with the defence team in the ongoing former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Com ...\" \/>\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\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crown, defence lawyers draw daggers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The prosecution was on Friday at loggerheads with the defence team in the ongoing former Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Com ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers\" \/>\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=\"2022-02-02T08:29:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-02T09:07:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/02\/img-61fa49b1a2595.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"403\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Crown, defence lawyers draw daggers\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-02T08:29:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-02T09:07:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/02\/img-61fa49b1a2595.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/crown-defence-lawyers-draw-daggers\",\"name\":\"Crown, defence lawyers draw daggers - 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