’Marafaele Mohloboli                                                                         

POLICE are investigating the death of a 29-year-old female Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) officer whose lifeless body was discovered on Thursday morning in her house in Phaphama, Butha-Buthe.

The deceased officer, whose name has been withheld until after the investigations have been completed, is originally from Mangaung, Mokhotlong.

According to police spokesperson Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli, “the deceased was found dead in her bed at around 8am on Thursday”.

“Her body was discovered by her friends who had become worried after she went missing and unreachable on her mobile phone on Monday.

“After their initial efforts to locate her failed to yield positive results, her friends went to her house. After repeatedly knocking and not getting a response, they broke down the door and found her lifeless body on her bed.

“She had some blisters on one side and her electric blanket was still on. Blood was coming out of her nostrils and mouth. There was also a bottle next to her containing an unknown concoction.

“We suspect foul play and investigations are on-going. The concoction has been taken for testing to determine if it is poisonous,” Supt Mopeli told the Sunday Express.

The officer’s death occurred barely two days after a 27-year-old Ha-Ratau, Semonkong, woman was murdered by her 35-year-old partner.

According to deputy police spokesperson, Sub-Inspector ‘Makeabetsoe Mofoka, the man, who has since handed himself to the police, “strangled and then cut his girlfriend’s throat”.

He even slept next to her cold lifeless body for the whole night.

Unknown cold-blooded killers also struck in Koalabata, Berea on 1 August 2020 and gunned down four women including an octogenarian and a septuagenarian.

The Koalabata killers gunned down ‘Malehlohonolo Tšiame (60), her mother ‘Makali Molibeli (87), ‘Matšooana Makepe (40) and ‘Maselone Lelakane (36).

A week earlier, another group of killers had struck in different parts of Leribe district killing two women in separate incidents.

On 28 July 2020, a 46-year-old mentally challenged woman, ‘Mapaseka Mokoatsela, was raped and killed in her house in Leribe.

According to a relative, Mokoatsela died after being strangled and raped by unknown men who had broken into her house. Upon examining her lifeless body, the police are said to have found some used condoms inside her indicating that she had been raped before being murdered.

Six days earlier on 22 July 2020, 25-year-old ‘Maleshoane Tukula’s dismembered body parts were discovered in a bushy area in Kholokoe.

Herdboys initially discovered Maleshoane’s right leg that appeared to have been freshly severed from the rest of her body.

Police investigators later conducted a search and the next day they discovered two arms that had been severed from the collarbone. They also discovered the other leg and a thigh that had also been severed from the rest of the body. The rest of the body parts, including the head, have still not been found.

No arrests have been made so far in both cases and Tukula’s head and torso have still not been found.

Tukula’s father, Paki Tukula, said the family might be forced to bury her without her torso and head if the police would have still not found them in two weeks’ time.