A former Cape Town police officer is allegedly in custody after the brutal murder of a policeman friend.
|||Cape Town - A former Cape Town police officer is in custody after the brutal murder of an off-duty cop.
The victim and suspect are believed to have been friends and had allegedly been drinking together just before the officer was found dead.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, police responded to a scene in Hlati Street in Asanda Village, Lwandle, where the body of Constable Thabo Mdzwana, 30, lay on an open field.
His official police vehicle was still idling a few metres away.
Constable Mdzwana of the Somerset West Police Station had been shot in the mouth and the bullet exited the back of his skull. His service pistol was missing.
The father of one left his home on Tuesday evening to go drinking with his friends.
Police said investigations led to the arrest of two suspects aged 30 and 36.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut said: “All I can say is that two males have been arrested and are due in court once they have been charged.
“The circumstances surrounding the case are still being investigated.”
But the Daily Voice can reveal one of the suspects is allegedly a former cop booted off the force.
Thabo’s girlfriend, Yandiswa Somphali, 25, said she last saw him at around 8pm.
“He said he wanted a bottle of brandy,” she said.
“He left with the work’s car and he took his gun. That was when I got scared.
“I warned him about taking the gun with him to go drinking because he would get aggressive when drinking.”
She said Thabo usually left his gun at work.
“He told me his captain told all of them to take their guns home because there were renovations at the station and their pistols could be stolen,” said Yandiswa.
“As soon as he left, I called my sister and asked her to pick me up because I was scared of what mood he would be in when he got back home.”
Later that night, she was woken by a phone call just after 1am. It was the former cop asking her where she was.
“He was asking me about my whereabouts and if I had seen Thabo, but when I explained that I was at my sister’s house, he hung up,” she explained.
“The morning I was woken up by Thabo’s relatives who told me he had shot himself.
“But before that could even sink in, there were police officers from Bellville at our house who wanted me to direct them to Thabo’s friends’ house.
“We went to the first house and he [the former cop] was not at home, so we went to the other friend’s house and found them both there.”
Yandiswa said that is when she realised her lover may have been murdered.
“The one friend had blood on his jeans,” recalls Yandiswa.
“When the police asked him where it came from, he said he got into a fight with some guy who tried to break into his car.”
She said the two suspects allegedly gave officers conflicting stories.
“The one said they dropped Thabo off at home, went in with him for some wine and the two of them left him alive inside our home,” she said.
“But the guy who used to be a cop said he left the house on his own.”
Yandiswa said she had warned Thabo about drinking with the two suspects.
“I still cannot believe he is gone, he got into trouble a lot with these two. I often warned him about using the work car to go and drink – but he never listened,” she said.
Devastated family members gathered at the officer’s home on Thursday.
His brother Thembisile Mavikele, 35, described him as a kind person who got led astray by his love for alcohol.
“Ever since our parents died, he changed and turned to alcohol more often. He drank a lot and got mixed up with the wrong friends,” he said.
“I last saw him about a month ago, we are all in shock and cannot believe he is dead.”
Daily Voice