Security guard found guilty of lockdown murder to be sentenced later this month

A security guard has been convicted for the murder of Sibusiso Amos in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni in March last year during the enforcement of level 5 lockdown regulations.

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Thursday found Siphiwe George Ndlovu guilty on three counts of attempted murder, as there were children inside Amos’s house who were wounded in the incident.

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Ndlovu was also convicted for the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Amos, 40, was shot and killed at his Vosloorus home on 29 March 2020 after an argument broke out between him and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers who were conducting lockdown operations at a nearby tavern.

Amos was shot at close range by live ammunition fired from one of the EMPD officers’ shotguns while standing behind a locked burglar gate.

The court found Ndlovu’s evidence that he shot at the deceased in an attempt to scare him to stop the scuffle between Amos and the EMPD officers as improbable and found the evidence by state witnesses was more reliable.

“Judge Mudau remarked that Ndlovu should have foreseen that his actions could result in the death of a person and should have acted in such a manner that the possibility of death is averted/avoided,” NPA Gauteng spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said in a statement.

The case was postponed to 29 June 2021 for arguments in mitigation and aggravation of sentence.