The baby girl who was shot dead during a cash heist in central Johannesburg this week was laid to rest at the Avalon Cemetery in Soweto on Friday.
The funeral service of Nkhensani Mtileni, which started at 10am, was attended by the family, members of the public, the Pan Africanist Congress and the African National Congress Women’s League at the family’s home.
The infant was shot while on her mother’s back during a wild shoot-out between Coin security guards, who had just collected money from a Charlie Parkers store on the corner of Bree and Wanderers at about noon on Tuesday, and a gang of six to eight armed men.
Seven other people were shot and wounded in the shoot-out, after which the gunmen escaped with a cash box
On Wednesday four suspects were arrested at Jeppe Hostel, and R20 000 was recovered from a house in Katlehong on the East Rand in the evening, said police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht.
One of the men arrested committed suicide at a petrol station in Greytown on Thursday. The man grabbed a police officer’s gun and shot himself. He and three police officers were going to KwaZulu-Natal as part of the investigation.
On Friday, three suspects appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court. Fana Makhanya (25), Laurent Alfanso (44) and Boekizwe Ndlovu (27) were charged with attempted murder, murder, armed robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Alfanso and Ndlovu did not apply for bail and Makhanya’s bail hearing was set for October 24.
Six other suspects are still at large. — Sapa