'Suicidal' cop given deadly assault rifle

A senior police officer disregarded regulations and allowed a "suicidal" student constable to be armed with the R5 rifle that killed Soweto teenager Thato Mokoka.

This emerged in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court yesterday during Constable Sipho Mbatha's bail application.

He intends to plead not guilty to the murder of Mokoka, 16, who was shot and killed on February 14.

Mokoka died when Mbatha's R5 rifle, which was in full-automatic mode, discharged several bullets.

He was shot three times - in the back, stomach and forehead.

Mbatha, who had been placed on administrative duty at a community centre, and declared unstable and not fit to carry firearms, was ordered to guard Mokoka while his colleagues searched his home in Braamfischerville, Soweto.

Mbatha was arrested three days after the killing.

Testifying before magistrate Elize Smith, Independent Complaints Directorate investigator Leon Naidoo said Mbatha had tried to commit suicide in December.

Naidoo said Mbatha's station commander had overruled the station's firearms officer and permitted Mbatha to be issued with the R5 rifle, a weapon usually issued only to experienced policemen assigned to a crime scene. He said R5 rifles were usually locked in a safe.

The Times has learned that student constables are allowed to carry weapons after two years.

Directorate spokesman Moses Dlamini said yesterday that part of the investigation would be on whether there was misconduct on the part of the station commander.

"The big focus is obviously the shooting of the boy, but we will look at how the firearm ended up with the constable," he said.

This was the first time since his alleged suicide bid, said Naidoo, that Mbatha had been given a firearm and sent to a crime scene.

Naidoo said Mbatha was part of a three-car police detachment sent to Mokoka's house after reports that friends of Mokoka had tried to stab a youth while robbing him.

The victim overpowered the knife-holder, chased after the group and stabbed one of them.

Mokoka, who was believed to have been armed, allegedly confronted the youth and asked him why he had stabbed his friend.

"Fearing for their lives, the boy and his family reported the matter," said Naidoo.

On their arrival at Mokoka's house, the five police officers put their firearms in semi-automatic mode, fearing that Mokoka was armed, before entering the yard.

Mbatha was ordered to stand guard outside the house and, after Mokoka was apprehended, to guard him while the rest of the officers were in the house.

"A few minutes later, the police heard shots being fired," said Naidoo.

"There are statements from some of the officers who saw Mbatha throwing his firearm on the ground after shooting the deceased and moving backwards while the deceased lay on the ground."

In his affidavit, read in court, Mbatha, 41, who became a student constable in February 2010, pleaded with the court to grant him bail, saying that his firearm had discharged while he was searching Mokoka.

Asked by prosecutor Samuel Kampfer if there was a risk that Mbatha would again attempt to take his life if released, Naidoo said there was.

He said the community felt strongly about this case and that if he were granted bail he should stay away from the community.

He said that after Mokoka's funeral, angry community members went on a rampage , burning tyres to vent their rage .

Under cross-examination by advocate Kenneth Manyage, Naidoo said his supervisors had made statements about Mbatha's alleged suicideattempt.

Naidoo said he had no evidence that Mbatha had attempted suicide since Mokoka's killing.

When Manyage said Mbatha had not attempted suicide and that he was stable, Naidoo said he could not give evidence to that effect .

• A senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Johan Burger, told The Times yesterday that commanders of police stations should prevent negligent behaviour by their officers.

"Steps have to be taken by station commanders to prevent [such] incidents.

"There is a huge problem at that police station," Burger said.

SA Police Union president Mpho Kwinika said yesterday that police officers who displayed erratic or suicidal behaviour would normally be declared fit to use a firearm only after undergoing extensive rehabilitation and reassessment .