Scott’s 2012 jailbreak still haunts LCS’s top brass

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…More than a decade later, the charges continue

sweet potato

The now infamous escape of convicted ritual murderer Lehlohonolo’s Scott from prison on October 14, 2012 while awaiting trial continues to haunt the top brass of the Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS).

While it has never been established how he escaped from the Maseru Central Correctional Institution (MCCI) maximum prison, there has been speculation that senior officials at the prison may have helped him break out.

Speculation continued despite Scott being recaptured in neighbouring South Africa and sentenced to life in prison for the massacres of two Kaurabata residents in January and June 2012. Scott was sentenced to an additional five years in prison for escaping prison.

Matingoe Phamotse, the current deputy commissioner of the Littoral Combat Ship, and two other senior officers are said to have assisted Scott in his escape from prison in 2012.

The other two officers were Assistant Commissioner Teboho Masenkane and Assistant Superintendent Ramaketekete Rasehloho.

This is according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Bokang Ramotena, LCS paralegal, who said the three should be investigated as they may have played a very active role in Scott’s escape from MCCI.

Ms. Lamothena recently acceptedSunday Express.

Scott escaped while awaiting trial for the murders of Koarapata residents Moholobela Seetsa, 13, and Kamohelo Mohata, 22, who he killed in January and June 2012, respectively, allegedly for ritual purposes.

In 2020, now-retired Judge Teboho Moiloa sentenced Scott to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He also sentenced Scott to five years in prison for illegally escaping from prison on October 14, 2012, while he was awaiting trial.

Speaking ofSunday Express last weekMs. Ramotna said she came across a scan of Scott’s passport on the laptop of a colleague, Assistant Superintendent Laselojo, two weeks after Scott’s escape.

According to Ms. Ramotna, Mr. Laselojo had just returned from a seminar that day.

She said that as they were looking through photos in Mr. Laselojo’s studio, she saw the passport copy.

She said the passport copy popped up from the photo gallery on Mr. Laselojo’s laptop.

Ms. Ramotna said that when she asked for a copy of the passport, Mr. Laselojo told her he knew nothing about it.

He also told her that the laptop belonged to his then boss’s assistant Superintendent Mason Kane.

She said that after discovering this, and driven by the earlier claim by Deputy Commissioner Phamotse that Scott had used vaseline to escape from prison, she (Ms. Ramotna) felt compelled to go with Mr. Laselojo to his (Phamotse) office.

The purpose, she said, was to report the discovery of the passport copy in the hope that new information would lead to LCS officials who might have aided Scott’s escape.

However, to her dismay, Ms Ramotna claimed Mr Famotsi did not act on the new information.

“It was swept under the rug,” Ms. Lamotna said.

“I reported this to him but, to my disappointment, he took no action. He also did not question the officer about the passport photo. Despite the new information, he continued to tell the story of Scott using Vaseline to escape.”

Ms. Ramotna further suggested that the issue was being concealed because the three, Mr. Laselojo, Mr. Mason-Cain and Deputy Commissioner Famoz, were “involved in facilitating Scott’s escape.”

Ms. Ramotena further toldThe Sunday Express, Scott had written to Mr. Farmots seeking his (Farmots’) audience so that they could discuss the escape and the identity of the person who had helped him escape.

But she said Mr. Famoz had not yet responded to any of Soter’s letters.

In an effort to verify the authenticity of Ms. Ramotna’s allegations, another person familiar with the matterSunday Express As of Wednesday, Scott had indeed written at least four letters to Mr. Famoz.

According to sources, he (Mr Phamotse) ignored the prisoner and refused to accede to his requests for meetings.

The source, who is also a senior official at LCS, even suggested that this publication should contact prison management to seek permission to meet with Scott to interview him about the contents of the letter he wrote to Mr. Famoz.

Contact for commentsSunday Express, Mr. Laselojo refuted most of Ms. Ramotna’s allegations, claiming that she was conducting a smear campaign aimed at damaging his image.

He said Ms. Ramotna was suffering because he (Laserlojo) was her ex-husband and he divorced her.

Mr. Laselojo claimed that she had been framing him since their divorce, using every opportunity to link him to Scott’s case, “even though I was not working at MCCI at the time of my escape.”

However, Mr Laselojo admitted that the office laptop he was using at the time had a scan of Scott’s passport on it.

He said he was working in the public relations department at LCS headquarters at the time.

He explained that he was with Ms. Ramotna, who was still his wife at the time, when he found the passport copy.

They both reported the incident to their then-supervisor, Assistant Superintendent Masenkane, who was the head of the communications department at the LCS headquarters.

He said Mr Mason-Kane’s explanation was that the passport copies were made for the Intelligence Office, which was working with police on Scott’s case.

“I don’t know what her intention was in revealing this information. She’s holding a grudge because of our divorce and now she’s defaming me and saying mean things to anyone who will listen,” Mr. Laselojo said.

We also contacted Mr Masenkane for comment but he was initially hostile when we called his mobile phone. He threatened that if his name appeared in our publication, there would be problems between him and us.

Then he insisted on comingSunday ExpressThere was a moment of calm in the office, and he told his story.

Contrary to Laselojo’s claims, Mason Cain denied that Laselojo had contacted him regarding the passport photocopying.

He explained that the then LCS intelligence chief, Superintendent of Police Mohlanka Lehloenya, asked for a copy of the passport, but he did not even know at the time that the passport belonged to Scott.

He said Mr. Lelonha explained to him that he wanted to circulate the passport copies as part of the LCS’s effort to recapture Scott.

Mr. Lehloenya confirmed his view, tellingSunday ExpressThrough a phone call made in the presence of Mr. Mason-Cain, who in 2012 was the head of the LCS intelligence unit investigating the Scott escape.

When contacted for comment on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Phamotse invitedSunday Express I went to his office for a brief interview. This was because he was not used to talking on the phone. He confirmed that Ms. Ramotna had indeed reported the passport copying issue to his office.

He said that after receiving the report, he passed the matter on to the “relevant authorities” who “investigated”. But he said he was under no obligation to report to Ms Ramotna.

“I reported the matter accordingly but I did not understand why a junior officer expected me to report to her. I do not report to Ramotna and have no obligation to report anything to her. I reported the matter to the relevant authorities and an investigation was launched,” Mr Pamotes said.

In response to allegations that he spread the story to the media and the public that Scott had used Vaseline to escape prison, Mr. Famoz adamantly insisted that he had never made such information public.

Instead, he claimed that former police spokesperson Masupha Masupha told the media that they found a container of Vaseline in Scott’s cell and traces of the substance on the window.

According to Mr. Famoz, this led to the claim that Scott was suspected of using Vaseline to escape from prison.

“This is the first time I have spoken about this. In Maseru, I was even called Mr Vaseline. This is a lie and a hoax which annoys me greatly. Sadly, this lie is being spread by my colleagues,” Mr Famotesi said.

Mr Famoz denied any knowledge of or receipt of the letters when asked about four letters Scott allegedly wrote to him seeking a meeting with him to discuss his escape and the identity of the person who helped him.

“I know nothing about the letters you asked about. I never received any letters from Scott. If there were such letters, they must have been sent to the office of the littoral combat ship commissioner,” Mr. Palmots said.