A 53- year-old Gauteng traffic Police officer was arrested for killing his own wife in Mamelodi West on Monday 1 April in front of the kids.
The deceased was Desiree Ngobeni who was 33 years at the time of her death.
Community members and different organisations including political parties put their different aside came together and picket outside the Mamelodi Magistrate holding placards and singing “No bail for the suspects”.
The accused is charged with premeditated murder, housebreaking with intent to commit murder as well as pointing a firearm to family members of the deceased.
The accused abandoned bail and the case was postponed to 5 June 2024 for further investigations.
According to Mamelodi Magistrates Court Senior Prosecutor Advocate Anne-Marie Bendeman the deceased was shot four or five times by the accused in front of the deceased’s two children.
“The accused appeared in court B of the Mamelodi Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he abandoned his bail application and indicated that he would be seeking the state’s legal representation,” said Bendeman.
“The case was then postponed to 5 June 2024 for further investigations by the police, ” said Bendeman.
She said the shooting incident happened in front of the deceased two children who are aged 3 and 5 years during the early hours of Monday morning.
“Luckily the two children didn’t get injured in this incident,” she said.
According to Bendeman, the accused allegedly used his service pistol to commit the murder.
“The accused is charged with premeditated murder, housebreaking with intent to commit murder as well as pointing a firearm because he allegedly pointed his gun at one of the neighbour’s or family members of the deceased.
Outside the court several residents of Mamelodi protested in anger and called for justice to be served regarding the murder of Desiree Ngobeni.
William Mbatane from an organisation calling itself Apla told Tshwane Talks that he wished the accused would be released on free bail so that he would explain to them as an organization as to why he committed such a dastardly deed.
“We don’t have much to say except to send our condolences to the family while at the same time calling for the release of the accused on bail so that we can get the explanation that we need from him,” said Mbatane.
Another resident from Concerned party Happy Mawelele expressed shock regarding the actions of the accused as he is a person who they have been living with for some time and know him very well.
“We are very worried about the amount of anger shown by the accused,” he said.
“The accused is not the only one to commit such a horrible deed but what he did us worse than many cases of a similar nature,” he said.
Meanwhile, Desiree Ngobeni’s father Phillip Sibiya told Tshwane Talks that he had been against her daughter’s marriage to the accused as the accused is not a good person at all and has fathered many children with different mothers in Mamelodi.
Johanna Ngobeni, the aunt of the deceased Desiree Ngobeni told Tshwane Talks that Ngobeni and the deceased had been at loggerheads for some time, and they would reconcile only to start fighting again.
“Desiree begged the accused not to kill her but he went on and pumped her with five bullets in front of her children,” said Ngobeni.
“We as the family are very sad indeed and are calling for the accused to be sentenced to life,” she said.
Terry Maboa who is a convener of the EFF told Tshwane Talks that he attended the court’s proceedings to monitor how the court carry out their duties.
“I am calling upon the government to pass a law which will prevent police officers from taking their service pistols home when they knock off as the use such weapons for wrong reasons,” said Maboa.