Four women gunned down

MASERU-FOUR women were shot dead in front of an 11-year-old girl last Saturday in Koalabata in an incident that has left the child deeply traumatised.

A family member, Pinki Noko, told thepost that her 87-year-old grandmother, ’Makali Molibeli, was shot in the head three times while she was sleeping on the floor.

The incident happened between 8 and 9pm.
Noko said she was informed that the perpetrators knocked lightly on the door and barged in without even waiting for a response.
The attackers found Noko’s eldest son and her 18-year-old niece in the kitchen. They pointed a gun at them and asked if they had any guns in the house.

She said the nephew tried to cry out for help “but she was ordered to shut up and she did as instructed”.
Noko said they then demanded phones and took all three smart phones.
She said they ordered the two to lie down and left them there.
“Due to confusion and fear, they did not know where they headed to within the house,” Noko said.

She said when they heard gun shots they did not think it was right inside the house.
She said one proceeded to the bedroom while the other one stood in the passage.

“He shot my grandmother who was sleeping on the floor three times on her head and the other three were also shot,” Noko said.
She said her grandmother was with her daughter, who is 60, and granddaughters, aged 36 and 24.
“With them was an 11-year-old who witnessed the shooting… and she covered her head with blankets,” she said.

“I still wonder what the killer’s motive was to kill my grandmother that ruthlessly,” she said.
“It hurts to the core to learn she died such a painful death – it would have been better if she was sick.”
“What did my grandmother do to offend anyone as she was always indoors?”

“Imagine what this child is going through at the moment.”
She said the child is so traumatised she does not even want to set foot there.
“She hates this yard – she is all over the village I don’t even know where she sleeps,” she said.
She said she only saw her once and her fear when she sees strangers is heart-breaking.

“She even ran to our male relative after assuring her he will protect her,” Noko said.
She said it pains them a lot and they no longer know whether they are still safe in their own house.
However, she said “we have surrendered all to God.”
Noko said the brother of the two late sisters was also shot dead some time ago.

“I ask them to please forgive us for anything we may have done to them to deserve this – we still want to live and we don’t want any more gun-related deaths here,” she said.
The attackers did not even hide their faces.
She said she was afraid to even ask those who saw them whether they knew them.

“I don’t want to invite more trouble,” she said.
She said one of the murdered women was processing her divorce at the courts. The case was supposed to be heard on September 9.
Noko said she found it surprising that ‘the husband’ had not set foot at their home after they informed him of his wife’s death.
“Even if they were to divorce, this current situation changes everything – death changed everything,” she said.

However she said she was “still frightened but at the end of the day, I have to face it as there is nowhere I can run to.”
“I am afraid to even go outside at night as I don’t know what awaits me there,” she added.
She said the government pledged to support them through it all “but I will believe it when I see it”

Koalabata and Sekamaneng’s Community Policing Forum’s Zone G Chairman, Moeketsane ’Mote, said the killing had left the village in shock.
He said the killing happened before they started working at 10pm.
He said they have about five active WhatsApp groups so villagers can communicate anything suspicious during either day or night.
“This helps us to act quickly,” he said.
“We always stop those walking around at night and it has been very successful in stopping crime,” he said.

Police spokesman Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said Mabote police officers were investigating the incident.