/ 4 May 2011

Cop thought victim was a hijacker, court hears

Police Sergeant Manape Phineas Kgoale thought he was responding to a hijacking outside the Kempton Park police station when he shot dead a woman, his affidavit says.

Kgoale said a car guard had come into the police station last Tuesday shouting that someone was trying to hijack a car.

“I went outside and heard a loud noise and thought it was a gunshot,” he said in the affidavit, read out in the Kempton Park Regional Court on Wednesday by his attorney, Riaan Louw.

“I saw a car going backward and forward.”

He could not see the face of the person behind the wheel because of the poor lighting, given that it was 7.50pm.

“I saw the person move their hand to the right shoulder and thought they were going for a gun. My call for them to stop went unheeded.”

He said there was no time to fire a warning shot.

“I aimed for the shoulder but somehow it changed course and hit her in the chest,” he said.

Only later he saw that it was a woman driver.

Kgoale denied that the car guard was present as reported in various newspapers.

Kgoale shot Odendaal last Tuesday at the Kempton Park police station after she crashed into a stationary police car.

Opposing bail
Kgoale’s defence also questioned why the state is opposing bail.

Louw told the court that there was no motive for his client to kill Odendaal.

There were also discrepancies in the statement from a car guard who said he witnessed the shooting.

“Can’t you see there is something wrong? Where is the motive? My client had no motive to kill her.”

Louw said Kgoale had been suspended, did not own a firearm and was not a flight risk.

“There is no evidence to support any allegation and he is a threat to society,” said Louw.

The court heard that the results of forensic tests and a post-mortem examination were not yet ready. — Sapa