Qamo disowns police statement

MASERU – QAMO Matela says he never surrendered himself to the police but went there to seek protection from the angry community.

Matela, who is from Ha-Mabote, is facing a murder charge. He is accused of killing his wife, ’Mahlompho Matela (nee Rethabile Mofolo) who succumbed to her bruises and died in a Bloemfontein hospital in 2021.

Matela has flatly denied making any statement at the Mabote Police Station.

Instead, he told the court through his lawyer Advocate Lepeli Molapo that there were threats directed against him on social media by people who said he had murdered his wife.

He said he went to the police station to seek protection from the police who gave him a document to sign, which he said its contents were not his statement.

This he said in a trial within a trial where his lawyer, Advocate Molapo, pleaded with the court not to accept a statement provided by the investigating police officer, Inspector Moeketsi.

Advocate Molapo told the court that his client did not voluntarily make the statement to the police but was forced to sign a document which was already written.

“He did not voluntarily hand himself over to the police station,” he said, adding that he went there following his advice.

Advocate Molapo said his client was already getting threats on social media that he was behind his wife’s death and as such, deserved to die too.

“He approached the police for protection,” the court heard.

Matela told the court that he never made a statement before any police officer at the Mabote Police Station.

He said he was forced to sign a document which was presented to him by Inspector Moeketsi.

The court was told that Matela never had a conversation with Inspector Moeketsi.

“All he did was to sign that document as he was forced to do so under duress,” the court heard.

Matela said he was threatened by the police.

To add more woes to his ordeal, he was told if he did not sign that document, he would be placed in a room where he would talk even if he did not want to.

“Moeketsi told me that if I did not sign that document, he would make sure that he opposes my bail if I could apply for one,” he said.

He further told the court that he was surprised when he learned that the document he signed was a fabrication which was alleged to be his.

When asked where Inspector Moeketsi got the information regarding his wife’s death, Matela said he did not know.

However, he told the court that he had a close friend called Lekhooa Monaleli who was always by his side.

He said he believes it could have been Monaleli who told the police what had happened.

Matela told the court that Lekhooa was interrogated before him at the police station.

He told the court that it was Lekhooa who told the police what had happened.

While the court narrated to him what had been said in the statement, Matela said those were not his words.

“That is Inspector Moeketsi’s version, not mine. I do not know anything about that,” he said.

When Advocate Peleha Joala cross-examined him, he denied everything.

Advocate Joala argued that there was no way Inspector Moeketsi could have known that Matela had taken his wife to the doctor and that she had been helped by her friend Selloane.

He told Matela that the statement showed that he went to Bloemfontein to get his car repaired and that he had checked on his wife telephonically.

Matela agreed that he went to Bloemfontein but denied telling Inspector Moeketsi about such a trip.

He said it was Lekhooa who told the police about the trip.

“The fact that he was interrogated before me, it’s possible that he told the police that,” Matela said.

He said since Lekhooa knew everything about him and his family, it is highly possible that what appeared in that statement had come from him.

Matela said even the version that he and his wife went to the doctor who asked him what had happened and that he had told him that he had beaten his wife also came from Lekhooa.

Matela said he never talked to the doctor.

Advocate Joala told the court that even in the doctor’s statement it also appeared that he talked to Matela advising him that beating his wife would not bring a solution to his problem.

The doctor’s report said he advised Matela to instead seek help.

Advocate Joala argued that the court should accept that Matela volunteered to give the police a statement of what had happened.

’Malimpho Majoro