Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town law enforcement officer Morne Horn has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for murdering an undercover policeman and seven years for the murder of a man the cop had been chasing in 2020.
Judge Matthew Francis said law enforcement officers were trained to use firearms and should be circumspect when using them.
Francis said Horn was a first offender and was on duty in a highly charged situation where somebody told him undercover cop Thandimfundo Sigcu was armed.
He said there were “substantial and compelling circumstances” to deviate from the prescribed sentence of life in prison.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Horn’s lawyer immediately said he wanted to apply for leave to appeal the conviction.
Sigcu was stationed at the Cape Town Central police station and was chasing two people in the Cape Town CBD when Horn and his colleague, Lubabalo Bom, spotted a commotion near the Standard Bank in Heerengracht.
Witnesses said Sigcu tripped and punched Ndimphiwe Given Mtshawe, aka “Bongani Jack”, who Sigcu had been chasing at the time. Sigcu had him on the ground when the law enforcement officers arrived.
Cape Town law enforcement officer guilty of killing undercover police officer
Horn said Sigcu had pointed a gun at him, but witnesses said that, although they saw a gun under Sigcu’s T-shirt, he had not drawn it.
In handing down judgment at the Western Cape High Court, Judge Francis rejected Horn’s defence that he had thought his life was in danger. He said that, as a trained law enforcement officer, Horn knew that he should only have used his gun as a last resort.
He said Horn lied in his initial statement about what had happened, and he also lied to his boss.
Horn also wanted to apply for bail, instead of going straight to prison, so the matter was postponed to 12 April to prepare for this, and the application for leave to appeal.
Horn stood impassively in a black shirt and narrow tie as he was told that his bail would be extended until then, pending a formal bail application and leave to appeal proceedings.
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