A 34-year-old man appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday in connection with the killing of three people during a road-rage incident at the weekend, Johannesburg police said.
Inspector Amanda Roestoff said Edward Maesela Kekana from Triomf, west of Johannesburg, will remain in custody until Thursday for a bail application.
Three people were killed and another one wounded in the incident at Unigray on Saturday night.
Roestoff said on Monday the man had been arrested at the Booysens police station after the investigating officers obtained two statements from witnesses.
”Based on facts supplied in the witness statements, police [initiated] the arrest. The man was called in to report at the station, and upon his arrival they read him his rights. He was charged for a triple murder and one attempted murder.”
The man was driving a Toyota Conquest with his headlights set on bright in Regina Street, Unigray, at about 11.30pm, while on his way to his sister’s house.
A bakkie with six occupants followed the man to his sister’s house, where an argument ensued. The men broke his car window and pulled him out of the car, threatening to kill him. The driver then pulled out his firearm and fired several shots.
The attackers tried to drive away, but their bakkie overturned.
Jan Verster (37), from South Hills, was shot in the stomach. Tony Vilente (65), from Germiston, was shot in the chest and back. Both men, who were married, died at the scene.
Roestoff said it is not yet clear whether the third man, 32-year-old Frans Chilane from South Hills, who was found outside his bakkie, died of gunshot wounds or whether he died when the bakkie overturned.
”Police are awaiting the results of a post mortem to determine the cause of death.”
Verster’s son Stephan (16) remained in a critical condition on Monday at the Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital. He was shot in the chest.
A 38-year-old man, also from South Hills, and a 17-year-old boy from Boksburg North were not injured in the incident. Roestoff said their names cannot be revealed.
On Saturday, after the incident, police had confiscated the driver’s firearm, but did not arrest him. It had appeared he had acted in self-defence, Roestoff said on Sunday. — Sapa