ROMAN Catholic Church (RCC) priest Reverend Father Pule Mahlaku was on Thursday night robbed of cash and a vehicle at gunpoint by unknown assailants near Ha Buasono in Berea.

Narrating his ordeal on a local radio station, Father Mahlaku said the robbers burnt him with electrical wires and suffocated him with a cloth before making away with an undisclosed amount of church money.  

“After they tortured me, the robbers who had covered their faces with skiing masks took the church money which was in my possession before driving away in my car,” he said.

His vehicle, he showed was later found abandoned outside Ha Buasono.

When asked to confirm the incident on Friday morning, police Spokesperson Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said at the time, such a report had not yet reached his office, although he promised to make enquiries about it.

Father Mahlaku is the founder of a non-governmental organisation called St Cecilia Orphanage which was established in 2009 to cater for the increasing number of orphans caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The children’s home often receives donations from local and international benefactors to meet the orphans’ needs.

A few weeks ago, the First Lady ’Masekoalana Majoro along with other sponsors donated food parcels and face masks to the centre.  

Prior to that, Deputy Prime Minister Mathibeli Mokhothu together with the Minister of Home Affairs Motlalentoa Letsosa also handed over identification documents such as birth certificates and ID cards to the children.

In 2017 Standard Bank Lesotho donated a sum of M200 000 to the home to finance the centre’s operations.

“It is now becoming the norm in Lesotho for thugs to attack church ministers and priests in their homes for church monies,” commented a concerned citizen, Motlaki Lira of Teyateyaneng.

In 2017, the late Pastor Mavis Mochochoko was attacked and killed by unidentified gunmen at her Mohalalitoe home in Maseru.