Former Lesotho Prime Minister charged with murder of estranged wife - Ripples Nigeria
Connect with us

International

Former Lesotho Prime Minister charged with murder of estranged wife

Published

on

MURDER CHARGE: Lesotho PM denies fleeing abroad after failing to appear in court

Former Lesotho Prime Minister, Thomas Motsoahae Thabane, has been charged with the brutal murder of his estranged wife, Lipolelo, who was shot to death in 2017 while the pair were engaged in a bitter divorce row.

The 82-year-old Thabane who was charged with Lipolelo’s murder on Tuesday, was accused of hiring hitmen to kill her in June 2017, two days before his inauguration.

Reading out the charges, the Lesotho High Court clerk, Tebello Mokhoema, said Thabane “did unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of Lipolelo Thabane” on June 14, 2017.

Five co-defendants in the trial included Thabane’s new wife, Maesaiah, who was controversially granted bail in June.

Read also: Lesotho’s Prime Minister to face murder charges on Friday

The other four are the suspected hitmen allegedly hired by Thabane and Maesaiah to kill Lipolelo Thabane, who was 58 at the time she was killed.

Police have accused Thabane of paying assassins a down payment of $24,000 to kill his wife.

Thabane resigned as Prime Minister in May 2020, giving in to the mounting pressure to step down over the murder charges as he and his current wife whom he married two months after Lipolelo was killed, denied any involvement in the murder.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

eighteen + 10 =

Exit mobile version