Maesiah Thabane returned on Tuesday afternoon and turned herself in for questioning over the brutal killing. Police said she had been hiding in South Africa.

The 42-year-old was remanded in custody and charged with murder alongside eight others who are in Lesotho and South Africa, police confirmed.

Deputy police commissioner Paseka Mokete said that there was a ‘strong case’ against the first lady and that investigations had been ‘satisfactorily completed’.