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CR1/REV/134/99

IN THE
HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO

In the
matter of:

REX

v

LETSEMA
MOKOALELI

JUDGMENT

Delivered
by the Hon. M.L. Lehohla on the 30th day of May, 2000

You
appeared before the Magistrate's Court charged with rape of your own
daughter who was at that time aged 19 years, and you pleaded not
guilty to that charge, but at the end of the day the Magistrate
relying on the evidence that was led before him found you guilty as
charged and sentenced you to ten years' imprisonment. 1 need not
elaborate on the evidence that you didn't seriously challenge of the
witnesses who gave evidence before that Court. For instance there was
the evidence of PW3 who indicated that she had been your lover,
that's 'Mamosa, and that when she got a report from PW1 that you had
raped her, she

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confronted
you with her and then asked of you why make a wife of your own

daughter
and you vouchsafed her no answer. That's what she says.

In
argument before me you told me that she is not being truthful when
she says you said nothing. But you were given an opportunity by the
Magistrate to raise questions indicating how lying she was in that
respect, but the record reveals you as not touching that particular
question at all, at all. So the learned Magistrate's Court cannot be
criticised for having believed 'Mamosa in that respect and using this
as one of the reasons why he convicted you. Now at the end of the day
too after you had exercised your right not to give evidence the
prosecutor addressed the Court and you were asked to respond to his
addresses, and your response was "I am guilty".

Now one
may say one is guilty for a variety of reasons which may even not be
true. I can say I am guilty when I am not telling the truth. But
where there is evidence which corroborates that conduct or that state
of mind of guilt then one need not look far to come to the conclusion
that it is true that this man in guilty. So my conclusion is that the
learned Magistrate correctly convicted you of rape of your own
daughter.

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You were
called before this Court because this Court had some concern about
the fact that you were not represented in the Court below. The
sentence was heavy therefore this Court wanted to give you an
opportunity through your lawyer if you could afford one to come and
show why this sentence should not be confirmed in the event that the
conviction is confirmed and the Court cannot provide you with a
lawyer if you cannot afford one. But you gallantly defended yourself,
if I may say so, before this Court, yet despite all that one cannot
seriously find fault with the sentence that the Magistrate imposed,
regard being had to the fact that it is your own daughter whom you
had repeatedly had sex with against her consent. That is not how
decent human beings should behave.

The
Magistrate observed that one of the shocking things nowadays is that
there is prevalence of the disease called AIDS(HIV). While there is
no proof that your daughter suffers from that nonetheless she suffers
from venereal disease. 'Mamosa is not your wife but you sleep with
her time and again, and then you go beyond that to sleep with your
daughter. This shows you as a philanderer of the worst order. Thus
the conviction is confirmed and the sentence is confirmed.

You were
given an opportunity to get yourself a lawyer and as a result of that

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time
after time this matter kept on being postponed. And one of the days
when it was

to be
heard was the 31st of March, 2000 concerning which the directive I
had given was given as long ago as 22nd of October 1999 and then the
matter was postponed to the 1st May 2000 but on that day again you
pleaded that you wanted to get yourself a lawyer and you made an
undertaking that if you fail to get one then we were going to proceed
as we have just done on the 30th May 2000. That will be all.

JUDGE

30th May,
2000

For Crown
: Ms Sesing

For
Defence : In Person