Paul Thabang Khumalo (26) was convicted in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday of murdering Diepkloof police station commissioner Superintendent Elias Mashau during an escape bid on May 11 2002.
He was also convicted on five other charges: two of attempted murder, illegal possession of a gun and of ammunition, and escaping from custody.
Khumalo had earlier claimed to have been surprised to find in his cell a gun hidden in a parcel from a visitor and told the court he did not know how Mashau was killed, only that shots were fired in a ruckus that broke out when he pulled out the firearm.
Judge Geraldine Borchers found that Khumalo had obtained a gun to enable him to escape.
”He knew that he might kill or injure people, but continued with his plan,” she found, adding he should have foreseen this could happen when shots were fired during the escape.
At the time, Mashau was in the cells to count prisoners and listen to complaints.
He was struck by three of the four shots fired in the cell, Borchers noted, while Inspector Sisa Ngqola and prisoner Mpumelelo Khumalo were wounded.
Khumalo, who pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him when his trial started two years ago, was ”one of the poorest witnesses we have ever seen”, she said, finding his actions ”consistent with a planned escape”.
Khumalo has admitted a previous conviction for robbery and will be sentenced at 11.30am on Friday. — Sapa