Pietermaritzburg - As A motorist is in critical condition in a Pietermaritzburg hospital, a policeman who allegedly shot him in a road rage incident in the CBD appeared in court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder.
Thobolani Khuzwayo, a sergeant at the Pietermaritzburg police station, is alleged to have shot Kavlin Naidoo, 27, on Sunday night.
He was arrested on Wednesday and granted bail of R2 000 by the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court.
Khuzwayo was ordered to report to the Alexandra police station once a week until his next appearance on December 22.
According to police sources, Khuzwayo was recently transferred to Pietermaritzburg from the Greytown district.
Naidoo an IT engineer was travelling along Loop Street with his fiancée and brother, when a man driving a red Toyota Auris cut in front of their car, blocking their way.
Naidoo allegedly jumped out of the car and walked up to the Auris. According to his fiancée Sandhani Padayachee, Naidoo asked the driver what the problem was when he was shot in the stomach.
“The man just took out a gun, shot Kavlin and drove off. We want to know why he shot Kavlin for no reason,” Padayachee said.
The couple were engaged earlier this year and were planning their wedding.
“I need him to be strong and pull through this. I need him, his family needs him. He is a fighter, we have faith … ,” she said.
Padayachee said there were women travelling in the other car.
“They just watched as this man shot Kavlin. What kind of a person just takes out a gun and shoots an innocent man? This was a policeman. He is supposed to be protecting us.”
After the shooting, Padayachee and Naidoo’s brother alerted emergency services who tried fervently to stabilise Naidoo before taking him to Grey’s Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for 12 hours.
Naidoo’s father Dev said his son was on dialysis.
The bullet tore through Naidoo’s internal organs, damaging his pancreas, liver, kidneys and intestines.
“He is in a very critical condition. His mother and I just sit at his bedside and we are living from minute to minute.”
The DA’s spokeswoman on policing matters, MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, said on Wednesday that while it was the policeman’s right to be given bail (as with anyone else), “I personally would suspend him from work. But that is the provincial (police) commissioner’s call in the final analysis and she has her own problems to contend with. This matter must be proven in a court of law”.
Kohler Barnard said there were 710 criminal cases against KZN police officers, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s annual report.
The cases included those related to deaths of suspects in custody and corruption.
“It was revealed by the Civilian Secretariat in Parliament today (Wednesday) that they had done station visits. Out of 135 stations there were 74 SAPS members who were domestic violence offenders – and that is at 135 stations – which means there were around two per station,” she said.
“They are dangerous – a man who beats his wife and children will beat anyone. If you do the maths – there are 1 137 stations – at around two abusers a station – that’s about 2 300 men in our SAPS who have beaten their partners.
“What we have here is the inevitable outcome of a SAPS that is so terribly mishandled.”
Daily News