South African Police Service (SAPS) management commended the investigation team for securing maximum sentences against two accused who heartlessly killed a police officer in June 2017 in Letlhabile outside Brits.
This is after Surprise Mokoebo (27) and Thabang Maleka (26) were each on Friday, 18 December 2020, sentenced to life for the murder of Constable Samuel Hlongwane then aged 35 and attached to Brits Tactical Response Team (TRT). The accused were further sentenced to additional 47 years imprisonment for murder of their accomplice, two counts of robbery aggravating and unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition.
It was reported then that Hlongwane was walking along Letlhabile main road when his friend driving in a BMW, stopped for a chat. They were still chatting when two unknown males confronted and pointed them with firearms. The men shot the Constable who managed to return fire and shot one of them. The third man came with a getaway car, picked the wounded suspect and dropped him at Letlhabile clinic.
The other suspect drove the BMW belonging to the Constable’s friend, who was unhurt while Constable Hlongwane was certified dead on the scene.
Upon becoming aware of what happened, taxi operators and some members of the community followed the suspects’ car until at the clinic where they allegedly assaulted the wounded suspect who was later certified dead.
Subsequent to investigation by the Brits Trio Task Team, a robbed BMW was recovered together with the suspects’ getaway car on Saturday, 3 June 2017 in Soshanguve, Gauteng Province. Mokoebo was ultimately apprehended on Friday, 4 August 2017, in Mabopane.
The Provincial Commissioner of North West, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena welcomed the sentence handed down to the accused. He said that the pair had to be permanently removed from society for the crimes they committed and in the process robbed the Service and the community of a police officer.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
