Lesotho Court Charges Prime Minister’s Wife With Murder
Lesotho Court Charges Prime Minister’s Wife With Murder
Lesotho police on Wednesday charged the wife of Prime Minister Tom Thabane with the murder of his previous spouse, Lipolelo Thabane.
Maesaiah Thabane, 42, was granted bail of 1,000 maloti ($68), by the High Court of Lesotho and released from custody. Earlier in the day, she appeared in front of the Maseru Magistrate’s Court, where she was not asked for plead.
Thabane, who married the prime minister about two months after the slaying in 2017, was questioned by police on Tuesday after turning herself in. A warrant for her arrest was issued after she went on the run last month.
The killing, two days before Tom Thabane’s inauguration, was initially blamed on unidentified gunmen. Details later emerged implicating Thabane and Maesaiah, his third wife, in court documents filed by Lesotho’s police commissioner, Holomo Molibeli.
She is expected to appear in court again on Feb. 18.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mathabiso Ralengau in Johannesburg at mralengau@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone, Pauline Bax
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