Pretoria – A South African Police Service constable has been denied bail by the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court after being arrested on charges of murder, attempted murder and arson.
Silas Maluleke, 40, allegedly exchanged fire with his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, who is also a police officer, in an incident which left her grandmother dead, North Gauteng regional spokesperson for the director of public prosecutions Lumka Mahanjana said in a statement.
On June 8, Maluleke went to his ex-girlfriend’s home and broke the window of the room where she, their son and the woman’s grandmother were sitting.
“The grandmother saw him and told the girlfriend who it was,” said Mahanjana.
“He then started firing shots inside the house using his service pistol. One of the shots hit the grandmother. After firing shots, he threw something that caught fire inside the house which led to part of the house to burn.”
According to Mahanjana, Maluleke’s ex-girlfriend then took the child into another room, collected her gun and started firing shots back at him, leading to him fleeing.
“An ambulance was called (but) the grandmother died on the scene while being treated. Maluleke was arrested on 14 June... when he handed himself over at the police station in Pretoria North,” said Mahanjana, adding that the court case had been postponed to July 29 for further investigations.
In May, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate arrested a Free State-based policewoman who allegedly tried to murder her boyfriend, accusing him of cheating.
The 31-year-old constable, based at the Ficksburg police station, allegedly fired shots at her boyfriend after she and a colleague met him while on duty, rifling through his cellphone during the interaction.
African News Agency (ANA)