Kamoli guards pumped 10 bullets into woman’s body

Mohalenyane Phakela

FORMER army commander, Tlali Kamoli’s guards shot 20 year old Lisebo Tang at least 10 times before killing her on the night of 9 May 2014, the High Court has heard.

This according to Detective Lance Sergeant Seeko’s testimony in the High Court on Thursday during the trial of three soldiers accused of murdering Ms Tang while on guard duty at Lt-Gen Kamoli’s home in May 2014.

The three soldiers are Tjekane Sebolai, Selone Ratšiu and Kopano Matsoso. They stand accused of murdering Ms Tang and attempted murder after they shot and injured her male companion, Tšepo Jane.

Detective Seeko works in the Criminal Investigation Division of the police as a Crime Scene Investigator. He attended to the crime scene near Lt-Gen Kamoli’s home in Ha Leqele on 10 May 2014, a day after Ms Tang was fatally shot by the then army commander’s guards.

After attending to the crime scene, Detective Seeko also inspected the vehicle in which Ms Tang was a passenger when she was shot at before proceeding to Makoanyane Military Hospital where he inspected Ms Tang’s corpse before taking it to the Lesotho Funeral Services mortuary.

Testifying before Botswana judge, Justice Kabelo Lebotse, on Thursday, Detective Seeko said Ms Tang’s corpse had three bullet holes on the right breast, one below the same breast, three on the right buttock, one above left hip and two above the waist on her right side.

Detective Seeko told Justice Lebotse that the vehicle Ms Tang was in with Mr Jane, had several bullet holes. He said he collected many bullets and bullet jackets at the scene which had been fired from AK47 rifles.

“The crime scene was about 117 paces or feet from the residence of the former army commander (Lt-Gen Kamoli) and at the scene I found three blood spots on the gravel,” Detective Seeko said.

“I found broken glasses, seven bullet shells fired from a 7.62mm AK47 assault rifle, two dead bullets and four fragments of bullet jackets. I then proceeded to the 4×4 white Toyota Double Cab D4D which was packed at a construction site in Ha Matala for inspection. There were four bullet holes on the driver’s door, two on the rear door on the driver’s side while the right mirror was completely missing and the driver’s window completely shattered.

“There were two holes on the windscreen above the steering wheel. The front passenger door (where Ms Tang was seated) had 9 to 10 bullet holes, four holes on its window and a cracked mirror. The rear left door had two holes as well as the rear windscreen which had a hole on the far left. There were another 10 holes inside the loading bay and the rear left wheel was deflated with another hole on the chassis.

“The steering wheel had three holes, one below the cup holder, some on the dashboard, two holes on driver’s headrest and two above driver’s door and 120 holes on back seat. There was a lot of blood on the front passenger seat and a number of dead bullets and bullet jackets inside the car.

“Blood samples from the crime scene were taken to the forensic laboratory while the two AK47 riffles which were handed to me by Senior Superintendent Koro were sent to ballistics. I reconstructed the crime scene on 12 May 2014and inside the vehicle’s door cover I found more bullet jackets,” Detective Seeko said.

He said he then proceed to Makoanyane Military Hospital to inspect Ms Tang’s corpse.

“At Makoanyane I was taken to Lisebo (Tang)’s body which was lying on a trolley. It had three open wounds on the right breast, one open wound below the breast, three open wounds on the right buttock, one open wound above the left hip and two above the waist on the right back. I was with Sub Inspector Matsoso and Detective Police Constable Mongaula and we loaded the body onto the police vehicle and ferried it to Lesotho Funeral Services.”

During cross examination, the accused soldiers’ lawyer, Advocate Sello T?abeha, said his clients had said Mr Jane and Ms Tang had a gun on the night they were shot at.

Adv T?abeha then asked Detective Seeko how many guns he submitted to the ballistics department for examination and the latter insisted that there were only two AK47 riffles which were presented to him.

Detective Seeko also produced two photo albums containing pictures of the crime scene, the body of Ms Tang and the vehicle she was in at the time she was shot by the soldiers.

The trial, which got underway on Tuesday, continues with more witnesses taking the stand on 4 December 2019.