Maseru, Aug. 06 — The Officer who led Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) search team on December 22 last year has denied instructing the Recruits to be firm when searching military detainees.
Chief Officer Tololi Rats’ele denied this allegation before the Commission Of Inquiry on the escape of inmates, when cross examining a military detainee Mr. Mahlomola Makhoali after he disclosed in his testimony that Rats’ele gathered the Recruits in B playground and overheard him instructing them to be firm on military detainees as they are stronger.
He told Makhoali that when he saw him at that time, he was grouping the Recruits, adding that he couldn’t have taken the sticks from the Recruits if he ordered them to be firm on inmates based in block B.
However Mr. Makhoali insisted he heard Rats’ele saying that.
Meanwhile the Commission Of Inquiry Chairperson Justice Realeboha Mathaba warned Rats’ele that the Commission will call him to testify on this matter.
Other Senior Officers, who were implicated by Mr. Makhoali in his testimony are continuing to cross examine him and they include among others, Sergeant Nkhapetla and Senior Superintendent ‘Molaoa
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