The Zeerust Regional Court sentenced police officer Annius Mmutle to double life imprisonment on Tuesday for killing his estranged wife and her boyfriend.
The incident happened on March 14, 2023. The court ordered that both sentences should run concurrently and the accused was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The court heard that Mmutle, 50, was separated from his wife as they were experiencing marital problems. The accused was a detective warrant officer, stationed at Nietverdint police station.
North West NPA spokesperson Sivenathi Gunya said on the day of the incident, the accused followed his wife Motshegwa, her boyfriend Katlego Selokwane, and her friend, going to the friend’s residence. Shortly after they arrived, the accused arrived and started to shoot at them with approximately 12 bullets, killing his wife and the boyfriend instantly while the friend managed to escape.
The accused called the police and was arrested on the same day. He was charged with two counts of murder. He was denied bail and has been in custody since then.
Gunya said in aggravation of sentence, State Prosecutor advocate Shadrak Mabale told the court that this was a premeditated murder and deprived the deceased of the constitutional right to life. Mabale told the court that the accused was supposed to protect his partner and his family, particularly as he is a law enforcement officer, but instead, he killed her.
“The State emphasised that the court must be the source of hope for the victims and community and protect the interest of the public at all times. The prosecutor emphasised that no compelling and substantial grounds warrant the court deviating from a prescribed minimum sentence in terms of Section 51 (1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997. Therefore, he urged the court to impose life imprisonment,” Gunya said.
In delivering the sentence, magistrate Botlasitse Mothibi said the accused showed no remorse and the fact that he called the police after the shooting does not count as a sign of remorse. Mothibi further said violence is a scourge rife in society, and as a police official, he was supposed to know better.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the North West, Dr Rachel Makhari, welcomed the sentence and lauded the prosecutor and other role-players who ensured that justice was served to the victims.
“The DPP hopes this sentence will serve as a deterrent to people that believe that acts of violence are the solutions to any problems they are facing,” said Gunya.
Meanwhile, the South African Policing Union (Sapu) said it welcomed the 18 arrests of suspects related to the killing of 21 police officers during the first quarter of 2024/2025 financial year, as released by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya.
“It is encouraging that a number of suspects like 18 were apprehended for 21 murders, however as Sapu, we want to make it clear that these are simply not good enough because our first prize would be zero killing of the law enforcement officers in the first place,” said Sapu president Thabo Matsose.
“Our second prize would be securing convictions for these merciless and brutal killers of our members. We therefore maintain our long-held call for the declaration of police killings as treason. Police officers are servants of the state; it is therefore the logical conclusion that an attack on agents of the state is an attack on the state itself.”
Matsose said it is a major cause for concern that the majority of the police officials were “brutally killed while off duty”, which means they are being targeted when they are isolated.
“The life imprisonment given for the killing of Constable Nkosinathi Hamilton Ndlovu, who was shot and killed at Glebelands Hostel in uMlazi, Durban, on June 6, 2022 is welcomed only because that is the maximum sentence. It is lengthy prison terms like life that which we feel could be a deterrent to others who would be police killers, showing that crime doesn’t pay.
“Sapu calls upon the authorities to do more to protect the law enforcement officers, not to simply condemn and pledge support as we will witness over the coming weekend as we will commemorate our fallen police officials, that on its own is not good enough.
“We are calling for tougher and practical measures to curb the senseless killing of our officers, these must include no bail for alleged police killers, lengthy prison terms for those eventually convicted and no parole for police killers.
“We would also like to call upon President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare police killings a national disaster after the gender-based violence that our country is grappling with. We cannot deny the fact that police killings in the post-1994 period are a threat to our democratic dispensation,” said Matsose.
He said measures like life imprisonment for police killers and “throwing the prison door keys into the sea” would see a dramatic decline in the killing of law enforcement officers.
The Star