Judgement this afternoon in PE police shooting case

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Judgement is expected to be handed down in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday in the trial of two robbery suspects who were charged with the murder of their alleged accomplices.

The state brought the charges against 55-year-old Mpumelelo Mkize and 34-year-old Mazizi Mbantyoti even though the five robbery suspects were shot dead by members of the police's tactical response unit.

Unit members were responding to a reported robbery in Kwadwesi when they claimed they were shot at from the men's get away vehicle.

However, defense counsel disputed this, saying none of the more than 200 shots that were fired had come from inside the vehicle and that all the cartridges found at the scene came from police fire-arms.

They also described the shooting of the robbery suspects as a massacre and overkill.

Mkize and Mbantyoti had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.