Lesotho’s 80-year-old Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, has been granted sick leave until February 27 when he will have to appear in court on charges of murdering his wife.
This was revealed by the country’s Deputy Police Commissioner Paseka Mokete on Saturday. He said:
New arrangements for him to appear before a court shall be made as he has to be fit for an appearance.
So there is no warrant of arrest issued as yet. His sick leave starts from yesterday and ends on 27 February.
Thabane was due to be charged on Friday, but he failed to appear in court and instead travelled to South Africa for what his aides said was a routine medical check-up.
Lesotho police had threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Thabane if he was trying to evade justice.
Thabane’s-then estranged wife Lilipelo, 58, was shot dead in June 2017, two days before he took office for a second stint as premier, and two months before he married his current wife Maesaiah.
Maesaiah Thabane, 42, has already been charged with arranging the hit squad but is currently out on bail. She has also denied involvement in the killing.