A Makhanda police sergeant was brutally attacked as she left her police living quarters to report to duty this morning, Sunday March 26. South African Police Service spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said it was alleged that the police officer’s ex-boyfriend ambushed her on the stairs of the police flats at about 5.40am.
“He attacked her with a hammer,” Naidu said. “She received repeated blows to her head and hands. As she attempted to run back to her room, the suspect managed to pull away her firearm and fired a shot at her.”
The man ran off with her firearm.
The 43-year-old sergeant, who is stationed at the South African Police Service’s Grahamstown branch, was admitted to hospital with serious injuries, Naidu said. It was later established that she had not sustained any gunshot wounds.
Police immediately launched a manhunt for the suspect and he was found dead in Ogilvie Street in Makhanda, less than half a kilometre from the Grahamstown Police Station.
“He allegedly shot and killed himself. An inquest docket was opened,” Naidu said.
Cases of attempted murder, attack on police and theft of firearm were opened for investigation.
Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major General Zithulele Dladla has expressed his concern and called for swift action following the second attack on a police officer in the Eastern Cape in three days. He called for the swift arrest of suspects involved in the fatal shooting of an off duty police officer in Port St Johns on Friday March 24.
Naidu said on Friday March 24 at around 2.15pm, Sergeant Vuyolethu Madala, 39, visited a local bottle store at Kwa Ntsila in Tombo, Port St Johns. Madala was off duty.
“As he exited the liquor establishment, two males followed him outside and fired several shots at him from behind. The suspects then got into a white bakkie with no registrations plates and drove off,” Naidu said.
Madala was rushed to the nearby clinic where he passed away on arrival.
Police were investigating a case of murder and the motive for the killing was not yet known.
Dladla said such brutal attacks on police officers must not be tolerated and he has instructed the speedy arrest of the murder suspects.
“Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the families of both victims and we wish our injured colleague a speedy recovery. We are appealing to everyone on all levels of society to stand together with the police to stop these ruthless attacks,” Dladla said. “The high number of gender based violence cases in our communities, including within our organisation, sounds a clarion call for everyone to ensure that the most vulnerable do not suffer abuse or violence and for people to come forward and report such abuse or threat of physical violence.”