/ 15 August 2007

Police officer shot and set on fire

A 26-year-old student police officer died after he was shot and set on fire in Buhle Park, near Germiston, police said on Wednesday.

Inspector Juanita Kilian said Constable Kabelo Motsumi from the Katlehong police station was brutally murdered near his parents’ home on Tuesday night.

”According to eyewitnesses, his attackers, who drove a red vehicle, fired a shot at him, set him alight and drove away from the scene.”

Kilian said a woman who was with Motsumi was injured and admitted to the East Rand Hospital. Her name could not be released for safety reasons.

”The South African Police Service condemns the brutal murder of the police member in the strongest possible terms,” said Kilian.

She said police already had positive leads regarding Motsumi’s attackers.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman said the man was found dead in Nitrogen Street at about 11pm on Tuesday.

”Paramedics arrived on the scene to find that a man had been shot in the head and his body had been burnt,” he said.

The woman who was with the man had burns on her hands, arms, lower legs and face.

It was unclear whether the woman was also set on fire or whether she was burnt trying to help Motsumi, said Dollman. — Sapa