Cop seeks counselling after shooting lover

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Published Jan 16, 2014

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Durban - A police constable who is alleged to have mistakenly shot his girlfriend while comparing his firearm to one in a television soap opera, was traumatised and required counselling.

Constable Siboniso Mkhize, 29, claimed this in an affidavit to support his bail application in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate’s court yesterday.

Mkhize, of the Loop Street police station, is alleged to have shot Lindsay Draai in the stomach in her Berg Street home on Friday. The couple were watching Generations, when one of the characters demanded a gun from another.

Mkhize wanted to see if the gun was the same as his and drew his service pistol. He then pulled the trigger by accident, it is alleged.

He said he had put Draai in his car and driven her to hospital. He then handed himself over to police.

Mkhize said he had a good relationship with her family and wanted to contribute towards funeral costs.

“This was accidental. I had no intention to kill her,” the policeman said.

Mkhize wanted to be released on R1 000 bail.

Prosecutor Rene Padayachee said there were no grounds to oppose bail.

Magistrate Ashin Singh said he could not grant Mkhize bail without having sight of the investigating officer’s affidavit.

The application is due to continue on Thursday.

The Mercury

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