Escape delays cop muder case

Published Feb 5, 2016

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Brits – Two men accused of murdering a North West policeman did not appear in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Friday because of a dramatic escape by four awaiting trial prisoners.

North West police said the four awaiting trial prisoners escaped from a police van while they were being transported from Mogwase prison to the court.

Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said eight prisoners were in the van; four escaped and four others remained in the van. The escapees – Zimbabweans Chris Sithole, 24, Alfonzo Mpofu, 25, Gibson Msimango, 25, and Ontse Lebese, 27, from Ga-Rankuwa – were described as “dangerous”.

“According to information, a motorist who saw this [escape] unfolding alerted the police about the escape. When the police stopped the vehicle they discovered that Sithole [and] Mpofu, who were both arrested for four counts of rape, murder, and robbery, have escaped. The other two suspects, Msimango and Lebese, who were both arrested for house robbery cases, have also escaped.”

The prosecutor in the police officer’s murder case subsequently told the court the alleged killers, Samuel Marothodi Maphanga and Luca Ndoda Mathibefazi, did not appear in court on Friday because of the escape.

Maphanga and Mathibefazi are alleged to have been part of a group of three men who shot Warrant Officer Sipho Sithole in Letlhabile near Brits in November.

Sithole was in his car when he was approached by three men. They shot him in the chest and fled in his car. He was rushed to hospital where he died. His car was later found in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. The case was postponed to February 19.

African News Agency

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