Despite lying to the court about the circumstances leading to his ex-girlfriend’s death, a former police officer has been convicted of murder.
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This comes after Thandolwethu Faku testified to the Western Cape High Court that two unidentified assailants robbed him at gunpoint and then killed his daughter’s mother.
He was also found guilty of assault and attempting to defeat the administration of justice.
IOL reports that according to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, the off-duty police officer visited his ex-girlfriend’s shack in January 2018, where he fatally shot her in the head while she was home with her two daughters.
‘The deceased, Wendy Papu, her 8-year-old daughter from another relationship and the couple’s 3-month-old daughters, were asleep,’ said Ntabazalila. ‘After entering the shack, the couple – whose relationship was characterised by abuse – got into an argument.’
‘The accused took out his official firearm and shot Papu in the head. He then locked the shack leaving behind a wounded Papu and her sleeping daughters. The deceased did not die immediately after being shot.’
In his testimony, the accused told the court that he went to Papu’s home to drop off money that she had requested, where he was accosted by two men who robbed him.
‘He testified that a gun was held to his head, and he took them to the home of the deceased where he knocked … telling the deceased it was him, and she opened the door. The next minute he was bundled into the trunk of his car by one of his assailants. Later he heard a single gunshot, followed by footsteps and the car then driving off. He further testified that he was later dropped in a bushy area and made his way to a lit-up area which he later discovered was Mfuleni SAPS, where he reported what had happened to him. He was eventually taken to Khayelitsha SAPS who then took him to the crime scene,’ the court was told during trial.
The accused’s vehicle was discovered abandoned on the afternoon of January 10, 2018, but his cellphone and the firearm were not recovered.
‘Under cross-examination, Advocate (Kepler) Uys destroyed Faku’s credibility. He called 15 witnesses, comprising nine members of the SAPS, a metro police officer, two neighbours of the deceased and the deceased’s three family members who helped him piece together a complicated case based on circumstantial evidence.’
‘The witnesses provided evidence which showed that the deceased was shot by someone inside the shack as opposed to the accused’s version that she was shot by someone outside the shack. The 8-year-old daughter and the deceased’s mother provided evidence which showed previous cases of abuse of the deceased.’
‘The accused had one goal when the State cross-examined him, and that was to mislead. This truly made the accused an exceptionally poor witness as he was not even willing to concede a simple point like working in the SAPS is a high-pressure job. In the State’s view, the accused was a mendacious, and extremely evasive witness,’ said Ntabazalila.
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Picture: Wesley Tingey / Unsplash
