Attorney Chinette Gallichan was shot in broad daylight outside the offices of the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in the Johannesburg CBD
The first picture shows the young woman wearing her graduation gown, smiling. It was probably when she acquired her law degree.
The second picture shows her wearing a white wedding dress, flanked by her parents, a smile on her face; a radiant bride on her wedding day. She is holding a bouquet of flowers.
The two images aren’t dated but they couldn’t have been taken so long ago.
The third picture is dated. It was taken on Monday 23 March 2026, in downtown Johannesburg. It shows a crime scene cordoned off by police, with mortuary workers carrying a body into the pathology service van.
It’s the short story of attorney Chinette Gallichan (35).
The young lawyer was shot dead in broad daylight outside the offices of the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in the Johannesburg CBD.
Reports indicate that she was attached to Sibanye Stillwater’s legal team and was involved in a labour dispute on behalf of the company when the gunmen opened fire on her before fleeing the scene.
Her cold-blooded murder has left her family, including her husband Keegan, searching for answers to the motive of the senseless killing. He said they had been married for four years but had dated as teenagers.
Keegan and Chinette were planning on having kids at the end of this year, he told News24.
Her murder has also sent shockwaves through the legal fraternity, renewing calls for the safety of those working in the justice system in a country riddled with crime.
Last year, well-known insolvency attorney Bouwer van Niekerk was shot dead by two men who accessed his office under false pretence. Reports say he was working on a major case involving an alleged Ponzi scheme.
There have been no arrests in this case, which happened two years after the assassination of father-and-son liquidation duo Cloete and Thomas Murray. The two were gunned down on the N1 near Johannesburg in March 2023 when gunmen, armed to the teeth, pulled alongside their vehicle and opened fire.
Thomas (28) died on the scene while his father Cloete (50) later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
At the time, Freedom Under Law’s Johann Kriegler said the Murrays were liquidators in the Bosasa case. The company had featured prominently in the Zondo Commission probing corruption and state capture.
As with the van Niekerk case, no arrests were made in this double murder, raising fears that more legal practitioners may be targeted in the future.
On Monday 23 March 2026, it was Chinette Gallichan’s turn.
The justice system has once again been shaken. How many more Gallichans, Murrays and van Niekerks will it take for the cries of the fraternity and their families to be heard?