A spike in the number of shootings involving policemen and their loved ones is a cause for concern in Ladysmith. This after two incidents in the last week and a half.
A 33-year-old constable from Van Reenen SAPS shot two relatives in the St Chad’s area on Friday evening. Ladysmith Visible Policing responded and on arrival, officers found two victims (aged 37 and 30) with gunshot wounds. One had sustained injuries to the cheek and the other was injured in the leg.
An off-duty policeman was arrested at the scene. It is unclear at this stage why he shot them. The constable appeared in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court on Monday, facing charges of attempted murder. He was granted bail.
Then, on Tuesday evening, a 35-year-old constable from Winterton shot his wife. Bergville police responded to a shooting at a house in the Woodford area and on arrival, they found an off-duty policeman who had allegedly shot his wife. The woman had been shot in the stomach and was rushed to a nearby hospital with critical injures. She is currently fighting for her life in hospital.
The policeman was arrested and appeared in the Bergville Magistrate’s Court today (Wednesday) on charges of attempted murder.
This comes after the horrifying Murchison Street massacre last year when a police reservist committed a double murder in the CBD. On April 29 last year, police reservist Mfayseni Khumalo shot his girlfriend, Nonkululeko Mgaga, and Sphamandla Mgaga (a CID detective) in Murchison Street. They were seated in his vehicle when shots rang out. The gunman, after shooting the detective, removed a cell-phone before fleeing on foot.
He managed to elude capture at the time of the shooting. The following night, the reservist handed himself over to Colenso police. Since then, the police reservist has been held in custody.
