‘I still fear these men,’ Leribe survivor tells court
Kabelo Masoabi
SEVEN years on, ‘Mamookho Tlali still carries the night of 18 July 2019 in her body: a wound on her stomach that has never closed, stitches doctors cannot take out, a chest that was opened on an operating table at Mamohau Hospital.
She carried something else into the High Court this past week. Facing the three men accused of killing her father, her mother and her sister at Ha Sephapho in Leribe, she told Justice Itumeleng Shale she is still afraid of them.
“I still fear these men even today as I face them in court,” she said.
In the dock are Tšokolo Sempe and his two sons, Pule and Moroke, charged with murdering Mathapo Sempe – Tšokolo’s elder brother – his wife ‘Maselakoe and their daughter ‘Malipuo in the Malibamatšo village. All three accused deny the charges and say they were elsewhere that night.
Ms Tlali told the Northern Division of the High Court that the attack came at about midnight. She alleged the three men set upon her family and stabbed her with a spear in the chest, head and stomach. Her mother, she said, was burned inside a stable after trying to flee; her father and sister were killed in the same attack.
She was taken to Mamohau Hospital, where she underwent surgery and had a tube inserted into her chest to drain blood.
“I was hospitalised for two weeks and discharged on 27 July 2019,” she told the court.
She has not recovered. The wound on the side of her stomach still causes her pain and still bleeds, she said, and the stitches remain in place because doctors have been unable to remove them owing to her persistently high blood pressure.
A suspicion over a beheading
Ms Tlali told the court she later learned that Tšokolo had suspected Mathapo of a hand in the killing and beheading of their mother at Khanyane in Hlotse. Tšokolo voiced that suspicion to a village headman in her presence, she said.
The prosecution alleges the attack on Mathapo’s family followed. The motive, however, remains in dispute before the court.
Ms Tlali said her own relations with the accused had been cordial before that night, though her father and Tšokolo were not on good terms.
‘I hid behind a wardrobe’
A second prosecution witness, Thapelo Nthute, testified that Tšokolo and his sons attacked several homes belonging to their own relatives in the village that night. Homes were set alight, he alleged, and ‘Maselakoe burned to death inside a stable. Mathapo was attacked and killed, he said, while Ms Tlali was left seriously injured by a spear.
Mr Nthute further alleged that Moroke doused his (Nthute) wife who is also Mathapo’s daughter, ‘Matebello, in petrol and that Pule tried to set her alight with a match. The match failed to catch, he said, and ‘Matebello escaped with the couple’s child on her back.
Mr Nthute said he hid behind a wardrobe before fleeing to Ha Mosuoa to raise the alarm. When he returned with a search party, he testified, they found the bodies. The attackers were gone.
Postmortem examinations at Motebang Hospital mortuary recorded all three deaths as violent. ‘Maselakoe, 63, suffered multiple organ damage from burns covering about 96 percent of her body. ‘Malipuo, 37, sustained a severe brain injury and a fractured frontal skull, with three wounds to the face; the report recorded that her injuries raised suspicion of criminality. Mathapo, 73, died of respiratory failure after a stab wound to the chest estimated at three centimetres deep.
Accused say they were not there
Tšokolo testified that he travelled to Hlotse after word reached him that his mother, ‘Mamathapo, had been killed and beheaded at her home. He said he told Mathapo and the village headman of the death before leaving the area – the same headman before whom, on Ms Tlali’s account, he named Mathapo as a suspect.
Returning with his wife, ‘Mamoroke, and a neighbour, ‘Maroale Sempe, he said, they saw a large fire in the village and later realised it was Mathapo’s house. They were frightened and kept away, he told the court, believing those behind his mother’s death might still be nearby. They hid at his house until daylight, then joined villagers searching for Mathapo and his family.
Mathapo was found behind a house, he testified, ‘Maselakoe at the stable and ‘Malipuo along a road. Ms Tlali was found injured.
Tšokolo maintained his sons were at a cattle post at Ha Lejone that night. Police later arrested Moroke and told him to bring Pule to the station, he said. All three were charged and detained before being granted bail.
The defence disputes Mr Nthute’s evidence, alleging he invented his account because of the bad blood between Tšokolo and Mr Nthute’s father-in-law, Mathapo.
The trial continues.