Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Hawks have arrested an Eastern Cape police officer for the murder of her colleague, Sergeant Sindile Godfrey Daniels, during night patrol in KwaDwesi on 17 June.
The Hawks’ Eastern Cape spokesperson, Captain Yolisa Mgolodela, said the 31-year-old Anti-Gang Unit constable would appear in the New Brighton Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for murder.
Daniels, 40, died after sustaining a gunshot wound to the stomach while he was on night patrol in Gqeberha, along with two female officers during the early hours of last Friday.
The Mount Road police’s Anti-Gang Unit member died in hospital. He was buried at his ancestral home, Dyamala Village, outside Alice, last week.
During the investigation, the two female colleagues – a constable and a sergeant – were stripped of their service firearms, which were taken to the SAPS’ forensic science laboratory in North End, Gqeberha for ballistics testing.
The ballistics analysis was aimed at determining whether the bullet that killed Daniels had been discharged from any of the three guns inside the police vehicle that night.
A report on the incident, based on the statements of the two officers, was sent to Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Nomthetheleli Mene.
The report, which News24 has seen, contained claims that the three officers, including Daniels, heard a gunshot but thought nothing of it. This happened after they stopped and searched three men on the street and found nothing, according to the report.
Daniels, who was sitting at the back of the vehicle, later complained about pain in his stomach.
One of them noticed that he didn’t look well as they drove off.
They then realised that he had been shot and took him to Mercantile hospital in Gqeberha, where he died.
The report did not state whether the bullet that hit Daniels had come from inside or outside the vehicle.
Daniels’ family previously told News24 they were suspicious about the claims.
The family also called on the police to ignore the statements of the two female officers and to probe them.
The Police Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) previously confirmed that the officer is a union member.
Popcru Eastern Cape secretary Xolani Prusente could not immediately comment on the arrest. His response will be added once received.
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