Court sets March date for murder trial of Lesotho first lady

A magistrate court in Lesotho has set March 17 as the date for the start of the murder trial of the first lady of Lesotho, Maesaiah Thabane, who was charged to court by local police in connection with the 2017 killing of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s former wife, Lipolelo.

This was revealed on Tuesday by a spokeswoman for the court, Mampota Phakoe who said that Thabane will be arraigned on the said date where she will be cross examined for allegedly hiring assassins to kill her husband’s estranged wife who was shot dead near her home.

Thabane who was arrested and charged earlier this month for the murder of Lipolelo, denied the charges when she appeared in the court briefly on Tuesday as she was granted bail.

READ ALSO: Lesotho first lady to be arraigned in court over killing of prime minister’s ex-wife

Lesotho police claim Thabane hired assassins to kill Lipolelo and was not actually present at the shooting herself.

Her husband, Thomas Thabane took office two days after the killing, and then married Maesaiah two months later. Lipolelo had reportedly refused to grant her husband divorce after he started a relationship with Maesaiah.

Thabane had earlier fled the country to South Africa on January 10 to escape arrest, but returned to the small southern African kingdom on days later and handed herself to police in the capital.

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