MASERU — When Mokhothotso Lesaoana, 36, broke a door to the room he had been allocated by his employer, Khotso Limo Brick Company, he thought the worst the company could do would be to make him pay for the repairs.
Nothing had prepared him for the shocking and violent reaction that he got from his employer’s son, Limo Limo.
Instead of making Lesaoana pay for the damages or repair the door, Limo turned nasty and whipped him thoroughly with an electric cable.
Lesaoana cried.
Lesaoana said he did not suspect anything when Limo took him from Sekamaneng where he was staying and started driving towards Ts’enola.
“I thought he was taking me to Ts’enola where his father Khotso Limo, who was my employer, lived,” Lesaoana said.
“I thought he was taking me to his father so we could deal with the matter.”
But when Limo started driving towards the Berea plateau, Lesaoana said he started getting worried.
“When I realised that we were ascending to the Berea plateau I asked him where we were going but he did not respond,” he said.
“I began to suspect that he had evil plans.
“Once we were on top of the plateau he drove to a quiet place where he threw me out of the car, pulled out an electric cable and began assaulting me.
“I tried to negotiate with him but he would have none of it.
“I said I would repair the door but he did not listen.”
Lesaoana said Limo continued whipping him with the cable. Even when he screamed Limo kept unleashing the whip.
“He was beating me all over the body. I was bleeding but he did not stop.”
He said he screamed for help but no one came to his rescue.
After beating him, Limo then drove him to his father’s home.
Lesaoana said he was shocked that Khotso did not reprimand his son.
“My wounds were dripping blood and my whole body was in pain but instead of taking me to hospital his father ordered him to take me home,” he said.
Lesaoana said the following day he went to the Mabote clinic in Naleli where he was treated.
“I had many wounds all over my body including on my groin,” he said.
“I could not walk properly when I went to the clinic in the morning because my legs were weak and painful.”
He reported the matter to the police and an assault case was opened against Limo.
Limo was charged and convicted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He was fined M800.
Lesaoana also sued for damages of M10 000.
He won the case at the Majara local court.
He said Limo was still to comply with the judgment.
Lesaoana alleged that since he won the case Khotso had kicked him out of the company house and was refusing to release his property.
He said Khotso was demanding that he pays M973 for his door and doorframe repairs before he could release his property.
“Khotso is refusing to release my property including my clothes,” Lesaoana said.
“The ones I am wearing are the only ones I have. The blankets were lent to me by the owner of this shack.
“This shack belongs to a man from my village who felt pity for me when I told him about how Khotso was treating me.
“I am unable to sue Khotso for the property he is holding against my will because I do not have M150 to open a case in the local court.”
When the Sunday Express visited Lesaoana last week in Sekamaneng he was wearing two tattered blankets.
Beneath the blankets was a pair of brown, worn-out pants.
A ragged brown jersey completed what covered his body.
His house is a corrugated iron sheet shack painted green.
It’s not even his house.
He said someone felt sorry for him and allowed him to stay there.
Inside the shack was a thin mattress.
He did not have even a spoon.
Khotso has however denied that he chased Lesaoana out of his house.
Khotso said Lesaoana’s own guilty conscience made him feel uncomfortable living there and he wilfully left without anybody saying anything to him.
“He knew that I did not condone my son’s act of beating him and he rejected the money I gave him to go to the clinic,” Khotso said.
“I even visited him at the clinic the following morning when I heard that he had gone there. He said he was alright.
“To my surprise 14 days later I received summons saying I, my son, my wife and my daughter-in-law were supposed to report to the police concerning his case.
“He never wanted to meet me thereafter about this case until I learned that he had left the house.”
Khotso admitted that he barred Lesaoana from taking the property which was in the house because it did not belong to him.
“The property that was in the house he lived in belonged to tenants who owed me and I had held it until they paid me.
“This boy cannot claim property that does not belong to him. It is madness.”
Efforts to contact Limo were not successful.
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