SAPS has to pay wife after Fidelity guard is shot dead

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Pretoria - A mother of three is due to receive damages from the SAPS after her husband, a Fidelity Security Services officer, was shot dead at a crime scene. The police officers had mistaken him for one of the robbers. Two SAPS officers who had fired the shots claimed they had no other choice but to shoot as they thought their lives were in danger. They claimed that they shouted at the security officer, only identified in court papers as M E Mavulule, to stop. When he did not, they opened fire. This version was rejected by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, and the judge ordered that the police must pay the woman whatever damages she could prove she had suffered as a result of her husband’s death. The woman, only identified as SB Mavulule, told the court her husband was called in December 2012 to the scene of a robbery at Absa Bank in Bothaville.

She said he was the only breadwinner of the household when he was shot without any warning. He died on the scene.

His colleague testified that they rushed to the scene of the robbery in a marked armed response vehicle and they were both dressed in Fidelity Security uniforms.

They wore name tags stating that they were armed reaction members. Mavulule was on his way to the bank from the back of the building. He was speaking on his cellphone when he was suddenly shot.

It emerged that one of the constables who pulled the trigger was still a student who had only served six months at the police college.

They testified that they were stationed that day at one of the corners of the bank, which was cordoned off to keep the public away. They said they saw a man coming towards them from a dark passage at the opposite side of the road. They shouted at him to stop, to raise his arms and to drop his weapon. They said they kept on shouting at him to stop, but he moved faster in their direction.

The court was told the man did not say anything, but raised a firearm. They said both of them then fired shots at him and he fell.

Judge Charl Rabie rejected their evidence and said it was highly improbable that a security guard of Mavulule’s experience would simply ignore the police warnings to stop. He had extensive training as a security guard and he knew officers were manning the corners of the street where the bank is situated.

The judge said that to suggest the security guard would hide in a dark alley and then storm towards the police and adopt a shooting pose is “so far-fetched that it must be rejected”.

He said the officers had fabricated their version to justify the shooting.

He said it was more probable the two officers did not keep a proper lookout and were caught by surprise when they saw the security officer trying to go into the bank from the back. Their lives were never in danger, but due to inexperience, they panicked and shot him too hastily without warning.

Pretoria News