Advocate Lebonajoang Ramohalali was acting as a lawyer for a couple that was locked in a bitter divorce case in Hlotse in Leribe district. When the couple failed to pay his legal fees, they agreed that they would surrender their vehicle to him which would then be sold to raise the funds for the fees. But last Friday, Advocate Ramohalali found himself in trouble after the police arrested him for allegedly defrauding his clients.
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He told thepost this week that he was still not sure why he was arrested.
The lawyer appeared before Justice ’Makampong Mokhoro in the Tšifa-li-Mali High Court accused of taking his client’s car without his consent.
“We had agreed with the client that I should sell his car in exchange for the fees,” he told thepost.
He said it was the wife who first tried to block the sale of the car with the husband joining in later.
However, the court found that there was no case against him and he was acquitted.
He said the client went to the police after he refused to give him back the car based on their agreement.
Advocate Ramohalali said the police phoned him informing him that he should report at the station but he did not show up.
“Whatever was happening was between me and my client,” he said.
Then a group of heavily armed police officers arrived at his house in Berea in search of the car.
Since they did not find him at his house, they took the car and parked it at the police station.
Faced with the predicament, he sought legal redress with the court ruling that the police should return the car to him.
“They never complied with the court order,” Advocate Ramohalali said.
He said later the police came up with a story that he had committed fraud after they discovered that the car was registered.
They wanted to know how he registered the car without the permission of its owner.
“They arrived again at my house kicking the doors looking for me but failed to find me as I was not there,” he said.
“I then called them on Tuesday informing them that I was now at home,” he said.
He said he was told that they had been looking for him and were threatening his family.
The police asked him to report himself to the station.
He complied and went to Hlotse Police Station where he was arrested.
He said an officer he knows very well kicked him while another confiscated the gun from him.
“I tried to fight for myself but failed,” Advocate Ramohalali said, adding that the police detained him for 48 hours.
He said he was kept in an isolation cell until Friday when he was brought before the court.
The court found that there was no case against him and he was released.
He said he was still in his court appearance attire when he was arrested.
“They told me that they had finally caught me,” Advocate Ramohalali said.
But even after the court ruled that he had no case to answer, the police had still refused to return his property that they confiscated.
The police have still not returned his licensed fire arm and the car.
“I have never been humiliated like this before in my entire life,” he said.
He said what the police did to him is “a fight that will never end until justice is served”.
“What the police have done to me is just to prove a point that they are not scared of lawyers.”
Advocate Ramohalali said the prosecution withdrew the case against him and ordered the police to return all the things they took from him.
“Almost everything was returned to me except the gun and the car, which was the main cause of my arrest,” Advocate Ramohalali said.
“But the police are refusing to comply and are playing hide and seek,” he said.
Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said he was not aware of the issue.
He said lawyers know the procedures to follow when the police do not comply with court orders.
“They can even meet the District Police Commanding Officer,” S/Supt Mopeli said.
Advocate Ramohalali’s fear is that his gun could be used in illegal activities with the police coming back to implicate him again.
He said he is “afraid they could do everything in their powers to incriminate me”.
’Malimpho Majoro
