By Libuseng Nyaka
Moloi Ralentsoe
BLOEMFONTEIN – Prison escapee and suspected armed robber Moloi Ralentsoe has broken his silence and accused police of torturing him when he was in their custody.
The smooth-talking Ralentsoe who claims to have reformed and found God dismissed official claims that he was arrested after crossing illegally into South Africa.
Ralentsoe said overzealous officers bundled their case when they abducted and illegally brought him to South Africa after he had surrendered himself to police in Maseru after learning that South African police were looking for him.
“When I learned that the South Africa police were looking for me, I handed myself to police accompanied by my lawyer Haae Phoofolo. We were only expecting the South African government to apply for my extradition which I was going to challenge,” Ralentsoe told Public Eye in an interview on Wednesday, August 1.
Ralentsoe said he was transferred to Mafeteng police station but was not pleased with the decision because he knew Mafeteng police are notorious for assaulting suspects.
After two days in Mafeteng, he was transferred to Tsupane Police Station near the South African border.
During the transfer Ralentsoe said he said was continuously screaming because he was aware that he was being taken to South African. Lesotho police gagged him and blindfolded him to muffle his protests.
At the border post between Lesotho and South Africa, Ralentsoe said he the blindfold was removed and he saw a South Africa police van parked on the Lesotho side. Close to it were five South African police, three in civilian clothes while two wore police uniforms. Ralentsoe identified Captain Mochesela as one of the officers.
Ralentsoe said he was driven to Wepener police station where he was ordered to sign a form but he refused to sign.
“This was not my first arrest in South Africa. I was aware they wanted to charge me as an illegal immigrant which I was not because I was abducted. Police started assaulting me to coerce me to sign the form but I refused. They later wanted to know who had assisted me to escape on my way to the High Court and I told them no one had,” he said.
Wepener police did not charge him with illegal entry but instead sent him to Bloemfontein to answer charges of escaping from lawful custody.
He said he was kept at Park Road police station while waiting to appear before magistrates.
“There I asked to call and notify my family where I was but the request was turned down. One of the police officers sympathised with me for the ill-treatment I received when I told him that I had escaped from prison but had been kidnapped back here. He allowed me to phone and I called my uncle in Deep Level to tell my family that I was at Park Road. My wife came to see me but she was told that my visits were over,” he said.
Ralentsoe claimed he was tortured even while in holding cells at the magistrate court.
“I entered the courtroom bleeding from the nose but Magistrate Majosi was not even bothered when I requested medical help.
When I protested in court by remaining silent and unresponsive to her questions about legal representation she remanded me in custody at Grootvlei Prison for another seven days where prison warders insisted I should see a doctor first before taking me in.
“My return to Grootvlei after escaping provoked anger among some prisoners who challenged me to fight. I resisted their taunts because I was aware it was just a trap”.
At Grootvlei Ralentsoe learned how to read and write and converted to Christianity.
“It is in prison that I repented and accepted God’s mercy which I shared with other offenders” he said.
Born in a poor rural area, Ralentsoe said he never received formal education. He worked as a shepherd in return for a heifer at the end of each year. Ralentsoe said it was the hostile reception he got when he went into an urban setting that changed him.
“Boys of my age treated me like trash. They did not want to associate with me, and from there I started being defensive and heartless.”