CRI/T/31/88

IN THE
HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO

In the
matter between:

REX

V

1.
TS'OEUNYANE MAHAO

2.
'NEKO'MESE

Before
the Honourable the Chief Justice Mr. Justice B.P. Cullinan at Maseru
on the 18th day of August, 1988.

For the
Crown : Mr. K. Mophethe, Crown Counsel

For the
Accused : Mr. M.M. Ramodibedi

SENTENCE

I take
into account what learned Counsel Mr.Ramodibedi has said on your
behalf.

I take
into account the fact that you are first offenders.

I also
take into account the fact that you have dependants: I regret however
that the suffering of your dependants in the matter
is all part and
parcel of the custodial punishment.

2

I am told
that you wish to "raise the head" of the. deceased. That no
doubt is a very praiseworthy custom. It will help
you to settle your
debt with the particular community in which you live, and help you
to rehabilitate yourselves in that community.
I have however said, so
many times before, that the particular custom find its origins . in
times when there was nothing like the
number of killings coming
before the traditional courts as one finds to day. To-day
approximately 40 homicides per month or nearly
500 homicides per
year are coming before our Courts. The custom, as I have said
previously, initially was operative within the
smaller communities of
the past. But to-day we all form part of a larger community, that is,
of the Basotho Nation, and it is to
the Nation, to society as a
whole, that you also owe a debt. The only way you can repay your debt
to society and rehabilitate yourselves
among the Basotho people, is
by accepting the punishment of this Court.

you
experienced in the matter, even though it does not amount to a legal
defence as such,

It may
well be that the provocation in your case, that is, the second
accused, was subjectively all the greater,

3

as you
are apparently lame and are partly deaf. Further I am not satisfied
that you injured the deceased in any, way but I' am
certainly
satisfied that in the least you physically restrained the deceased
and thus physically assisted the first accused in
killing the
deceased. In all the circumstances however it seems to me that
morally speaking, the degree of your guilt is less than
that of the
first accused

I was
not,as I said earlier, satisfied that you both. initially planned
the death of the deceased, so that premeditation as1 such
was not
proved. Nonetheless I was satisfied that both of you ultimately
formed the intention to kill the deceaseds

You have
both committed a heinous crime. You have taken the life of a fellow
human being, of a husband, a father, in a most brutal,
relentless and
ghastly manner. To make

matters
worse, you did so in the very sight and sound of the unfortunate
deceased's wife and 10 year old son, and that despite
the wife's
pleas and the young boy's tears and valiant physical resistance. You
have shown no mercy to the deceased or his family.
The Court in
passing sentence is accustomed to hear 'of all. that can be said in
mitigation of the crime. But who is there to
speak of those deprived
by such crime,

4

of the
sufferings and the horrific, traumatic memories indelibly imprinted
on the minds of a widow and Her young son in this case?

Bearing
all such considerations in mind I sentence you

First
Accused:

WELVE:(12)
YEARS IMPRISONMENT

Second
Accused:

NINE :(9)
YEARS IMPRISONMENT.

(B;P.
CULLINAN)

CHIEF
JUSTICE

18/8/88.