Cop shoots pregnant ex-wife in stomach, killing her and baby

Justice has been served during Women’s Month.

A police sergeant based at Pretoria Railway Unit has been sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for murdering his ex-wife last year.

He also destroyed the foetus inside her when he shot her in the stomach.

Shot in hospital parking lot

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) spokesperson Phaladi Shuping explained the 40-year-old officer, Sergeant Tebogo Johannes Mpete, had been divorced from his wife Ntombizodwa Khumalo, 38.

However, when he realised she had moved on with her life, he started to threaten Khumalo’s boyfriend.

ALSO READ: Man sentenced to life after brutally murdering ex, despite protection order

“On 5 April 2023, Mpete went to Brits Hospital, where Khumalo was employed, and waited for her. On her arrival, he followed her in the parking area and shot her several times, using his service pistol,” Shuping said.

“Most of the bullets fired at Khumalo were aimed at her stomach and hit the foetus, as she was pregnant at the time.”

She died at the scene and Mpete handed himself over to the Brits police. The case was taken over by Ipid for investigation.

Pleads guilty

Mpete remained in custody until the finalisation of the case.

He pleaded guilty in the Pretoria High Court and he was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment. The court, however, suspended five years of the sentence, and he will effectively serve 30 years.

He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

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Act empowers directorate to investigate cops more efficiently

Ipid recently said it had been empowered by the Ipid Amendment Act, signed into law at the end of July.

Spokesperson Lizzy Suping told The Citizen the act holds South African Police Service (Saps) members to account for their actions in ways the principal Ipid Act of 2011 did not.

It will keep bad cops in check for crimes they commit, whether a member of the Saps or a member of a municipal police service, whether such member was on or off duty.

It also grants the directorate greater independence and powers after any disciplinary processes involving the police.

ALSO READ: Ipid says Amendment Act will help punish bad cops