Cape Town - A grieving mother has recounted her daughter and granddaughter’s murder at the hands of a police officer boyfriend, who then turned his service pistol on himself.
Abona Magaba, 27, and one-year-old Lihlume, were shot and killed in their Samora Machel home by Thembelani Lamani on Wednesday evening.
According to police, Lamani, based at Faure in Stellenbosch, used his service pistol. The couple had been together for about three years when Magaba broke up with the officer over the Easter weekend.
Nozuko Magaba said Lamani had visited their home, trying to get back with Magaba, but she refused.
On Tuesday, the constable shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and daughter while they were hiding in the wardrobe.
“I was walking out of the yard, he was standing outside by the gate and he was smoking. I knew him. He was in a relationship with my daughter.
“I asked him why he was here, and told him not to go into my house while smoking,” a grief-stricken Nozuko Magaba recalled.
“He took out a gun, and I told Abona to lock the door. My 14-year-old daughter locked the door. He shot just under the lock and then shot at the window to the passage and then went to the window on the side of the house and broke it and gained entry.”
She said she could hear all the gunshots, because after seeing the gun, she ran to her neighbour’s home.
“There were so many shots. All I could say to the people was that my family was being annihilated.
“And then I heard my husband shout, ‘why have you come to kill my child in my house?’ Shortly after that, I heard another shot.
“I decided to run to my sister’s house and told her that people had been killed in my house.
“The police responded very quickly and asked where the shooting was. I told them in my house, and they went inside. They told me not to go inside and they told me that my husband was still alive, and my eldest daughter and grandchild had been killed and that the young one had been shot in the leg.”
Nozuko Magaba said she then found out that the last shot she heard was Lamani killing himself.
He shot and killed himself in his car, which was parked outside the house.
The mom explained that the relationship between Abona and Lamani was turbulent.
Police spokesperson, Malcolm Pojie, said detectives in Samora Machel were probing the circumstances.
“The tragic incident happened on Wednesday at about 7pm at Basil February Street, Samora Machel.
“Preliminary investigation suggests that the off-duty police constable shot his girlfriend, her daughter and wounded a 14-year-old girl in the leg who resides at the same address.
“He then went to his car where he allegedly turned his service pistol on himself. Two counts of murder, an attempted murder and an inquest were opened for further investigation.”
The Samora Machel Community Policing Forum said it was shocked by the incident. CPF spokesperson, Bongani Maqungwana, said: “When looking at this, it reminds us of a sergeant in Samora who did the same to his wife and tells you something needs to be done by SAPS.
“They need to subject their members to some compulsory sessions to deal with stress and how to behave when faced with difficulties in their relationships. So the CPF is going to have a (meeting) with SAPS management.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za