(MENAFN- The Post)
MASERU – FORMER Prime Minister Thomas Thabane is finally being charged with the murder of his wife, Lipolelo Thabane.
A notice of trial from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) says Thabane, 82, will appear in the High Court on Tuesday next week.
His lawyer Attorney Qhalehang Letsika confirmed that Thabane will appear in court on November 30.
Thabane's trial is yet another twist in the long-running saga that started with Lipolelo's murder in June 2017 and upended his political career in May last year.
The trial could have started last year but was delayed after Thabane asked the Constitutional Court to decide if he could be charged as a sitting Prime Minister.
The case was however overtaken by events after Thabane was forced to resign midway through his sullied tenure.
Yet even after his fall from power Thabane appeared to have escaped the charges, amid speculation that some politicians had prevailed on the DPP not to proceed aggressively against the ailing former Prime Minister.
At the same time, the police kept pushing for his arraignment and the public was asking why he was yet to face trial.
Apart from the murder of his wife, Thabane is also charged with the attempted murder of Thato Sibolla who was in the same car as Lipolelo when she was shot as she was about to drive into her yard in Ha 'Masana.
Sibolla, Lipolelo's friend, was injured and spent weeks in hospital before she fled to South Africa as she feared for her life.
Thabane's wife, 'Maesaiah Thabane, is already on trial for the same crimes and is out on a M10 000 bail whose conditions she now wants relaxed.
The police say the couple hired gunmen to kill Lipolelo so that they could marry.
Lipolelo had refused to grant Thabane a divorce, blocking his marriage to 'Maesaiah who is 41 years his junior. They had an opulent wedding at Setsoto Stadium several weeks after Lipolelo's death.
The police say the gunmen who are suspected to be members of a famo gang were promised M3 million for the hit.
The investigation into Lipolelo's murder appeared to have stalled until December 2019 when Police Commissioner Holomo Molibeli asked Thabane, in a letter, to explain why his phone received a call from someone who was at the murder scene.
Thabane responded by suspending Commissioner Molibeli but the decision was reserved by the High Court.
'Maesaiah was summoned to the police a few weeks later but fled to South Africa where she spent weeks before handing herself to the police.
Staff Reporter
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