Woman shot by cop boyfriend takes on police minister in ConCourt

The Constitutional Court is on Tuesday hearing an application by a woman who wants the court to hold the minister of police vicariously liable after her police reservist boyfriend shot her in the face before fatally shooting himself while he was on duty.

Johannes Mbongo shot and wounded his girlfriend‚ Elsa Booysen‚ in 2013. He then killed himself. Mbongo‚ from Pearston in the Eastern Cape‚ worked night shift.

On the day of the incident‚ he was dropped off by a police vehicle while on duty to have dinner with Booysen. He ate dinner and without warning drew his firearm‚ shooting Booysen in the face‚ then himself. She survived.

Booysen approached the High Court asking it to hold the minister of police vicariously liable for the incident. She succeeded in her application.

Unhappy with the High Court’s decision‚ the minister successfully appealed the lower court’s decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

Booysen now wants the Constitutional Court to set aside the SCA’s decision and uphold the High Court ruling. Her counsel Gavin Dugmore argued in court on Tuesday that trust was one of the issues that are central in the application.

"The court a quo did not have regard to the issue of trust that is in issue here.

"When a firearm is placed in the hands of a police officer‚ he is in entrusted with the responsibility to control the firearm and its use. He is entrusted with the duty to not injure the citizens‚" Dugmore argued.