PRETORIA - A warrant officer in the South African Police Service has been arrested for shooting to death his wife in Meredale, Johannesburg, police watchdog Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said on Monday.
"It is alleged that the suspect warrant officer who is a member of the Vispol at Eldorado SAPS arrived home at 8:30pm on Friday to find his wife sitting with a neighbour at his home in Meredale, drinking [alcohol]. It is alleged that he asked her why she was drunk as he knew her to be a Christian but she told him that she also wanted to be happy," said Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini.
"The suspect [the police officer] joined his wife and the neighbour in drinking. Apparently a call came through the suspect's phone, and they quarrelled about the identity of the female caller. It is alleged that the deceased [wife] became angry and threw the suspect's phone onto the cement floor and told him to leave her house. The deceased threw the suspect out of her house."
The policeman alleges the wife attacked him with a knife and there was a struggle, and a shot was accidentally discharged, which hit the woman in the upper neck.
"The suspect allegedly phoned the ambulance but the deceased was certified dead on their [paramedics'] arrival. The suspect was arrested and the Ipid took over the investigation," said Dlamini.
The police officer was scheduled to appear at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday.