THE jamming of a police handgun saved the lives of four eyewitnesses who saw a policeman murdering his colleague in cold blood before opening fire on them.
The evidence was heard in the trial of W/O Isaac Dlamini (45) of the eSikhaweni police station, who was convicted on two counts of murder in the Ngwelezana Regional Court on Tuesday.
According to evidence led by Regional Court Prosecutor Scelo Hlela, Dlamini shot and killed Cst Mwandla before assassinating an eyewitness, a Miss Mthembu.
He then falsely reported to the station that they were attacked by criminals.
The investigation, led by Detective Ncana of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IDIP), revealed that Dlamini was off duty on the night of the incident and for reasons unknown to the State, accompanied on-duty Cst Mwandla to Port Durnford in a police vehicle.
Both detectives were in plain clothes.
According to testimonies, five female occupants of a homestead in Port Durnford heard a vehicle driving into their yard at high speed, whereafter shots were fired.
They peered through the window, saw the police vehicle parked next to the house and witnessed Dlamini shooting Mwandla.
Mistakenly believing the police were shooting at a son of the homestead, they shouted at the shooter.
He then pointed the firearm at the window.
The occupants, a mother, two sisters and two granddaughters, attempted to hide, but the assassin kicked down the door and started shooting.
The first bullet hit Miss Mthembu in the heart and she died instantly.
He then fired again with the clear intension to finish off the rest of the witnesses, but the gun jammed.
It later transpired that Dlamini emptied Mwandla’s own gun on him and reloaded to finish off the eyewitnesses.
In his haste, he did not slot the magazine into the gun properly.
After the first shot, it started slipping out, giving one of the women the opportunity to grab hold of him.
Following the scuffle, Dlamini hastily reported to the station that they were being attacked, but failed to give the location.
The van was tracked through the GPI system to Port Durnford, where Dlamini was arrested.
The matter was remanded to September for sentencing.
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