A 40-year-old police officer accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend seven times has been denied bail by the Mankweng Magistrates Court in Limpopo on Friday.
Sergeant Alfred Malemela allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend, Victoria Ramaphoko, 38, on September 27, 2024.
The shooting took place outside Mankweng Magistrates Court after a Heritage Day celebration.
Malemela is also stationed at Mankweng Police Station.
Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) spokesperson, Phaladi Shuping, said Malemela went to the Magistrates Court in the morning where Ramaphoko and her colleagues were celebrating Heritage Day.
“There was an argument between Sergeant Malemela and Ramaphoko but he left the court building. He came back later in the afternoon armed with a firearm and met Ramaphoko at the gate and allegedly shot her seven times,” said Shuping.
Ramaphoko was rushed to hospital and survived the shooting.
The incident was reported to IPID and Sergeant Malemela was arrested.
“He was charged for attempted murder and contravention of the protection order that Ramaphoko had obtained against him,” added Shuping.
Malemela will appear again in court on December 12, 2024.
In a similar matter, early this month, the Pietermaritzburg High Court sentenced Constable Mthokozisi Gregory Nene, 44, to 25 years in prison for murdering his wife, Nompilo Thobeka Nene, 40, in the Inchanga area on July 22, 2022.
A family member who asked not to be named, spoke to Daily News after the sentence and said Nompilo was unidentifiable after the shooting.
“The left side of her face was gone. Her eye was missing.”
The family member said Mthokozisi and his lawyer would appeal against the sentence. The appeal application will be on December 13.
“We hope he loses the appeal and gets more years on his sentence for wasting State resources,” she said.
“This was his wife, the mother of his children. He should’ve been given a life sentence. This was a police officer and an example should have been made of him.”
She said that although they were unhappy with the sentence, they were glad he had been sentenced.
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IOL News