Africa-Press – South-Africa. A Thohoyandou police officer is accused of trying to set his estranged wife and their child alight while he was out on bail for allegedly assaulting her.
The 35-year-old officer was arrested on the assault charge last month and was suspended from the police, said Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo.
He was released on bail in that case.
But he found himself back behind bars on Sunday morning after he allegedly doused his 30-year-old estranged wife and daughter with fuel and attempted to set them alight.
“The suspect, who is currently separated from his wife, allegedly went to his wife’s house and knocked at the window of a room in which his wife and daughter were sleeping and told them that he had brought his child’s drink (Mageu). The woman opened the window and took it,” Mojapelo said.
“After some minutes, her husband returned and gained entry into the bedroom carrying fuel. He poured [it on] both his wife and daughter.”
But before he could set them alight, the woman managed to grab the lighter from him.
She then “let him cool off” and ran to the police station while he was still in her house, Mojapelo said.
The man is expected to appear in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of attempted murder and housebreaking.
Limpopo police commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, said the “incident by one of our own is not just an embarrassment, but also jeopardises our efforts aimed at reducing incidents of gender-based violence”.
“The SAPS shall not tolerate members who place the lives of women and children at risk.”
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