Future of killer’s lover uncertain

The National Prosecuting Authority is still contemplating if it should charge a female police colonel whose much younger lover was on Friday sentenced in the High Court in Pretoria to life imprisonment for murdering her fiancé.

Judge Bert Bam sentenced Pretoria West constable Rishen Rampersad, 24, to life imprisonment for the murder of his lover Colonel Caroline Naidoo’s life partner, Colonel Renier Lagois, who died in a hail of bullets after being shot with his own service pistol in the garage of his home in Rietondale on January 18 2016.

Lagois was the head of support at the Leole police station in Pretoria.

Rampersad was sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment for robbing Lagois of his car and service pistol and the illegal possession of the firearm and ammunition, which will run concurrently with his life sentence.

Lagois’ service pistol was found three months later in possession of his colleague, Constable Mohammed Alli, who allegedly committed suicide after being arrested on drug-related charges.

Rampersad denied having anything to do with Lagois’ death, but his cellphone records placed him at the murder scene and the place where Lagois’ car was found.

The court rejected his claim that he was tortured and that police officials had conspired to falsely implicate him, and ruled that his confession that he and Naidoo had planned the murder in her office was admissible.

He told a police colonel Naidoo had fetched him from his office and took him to her house where she made him wait in the garage while she fetched Lagois’ service pistol. Rampersad waited until Lagois stopped and then opened fire on him before leaving the scene in Lagois’ car.

Bam said the murder was clearly carefully considered.

Info:

• Lagois’ brother Hennie said the family was satisfied with the sentence, but were upset because the mastermind, Naidoo, seemed to be getting away with it. He said Naidoo had broken all ties with the family and never even said she was sorry about Renier’s death.
• Alli’s family said they believed he had not gassed himself, but was murdered, as he had stab wounds and a broken nose and arm. They hoped the next step would be to charge someone.

– ilsedl@citizen.co.za