Police have confirmed a 48-year-old officer has taken his own life after a hit-and-run incident in which a 26-year-old woman died on the Phoenix highway on Saturday.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said investigations revealed mother-of-two Phumla Mtshali was allegedly knocked down by a black SUV — a police protection vehicle — and the driver failed to stop.
An unknown person returned to the accident scene to retrieve the front registration plate which fell off during the accident.
Netshiunda said shortly after a case of culpable homicide was registered at Phoenix police station and a sergeant, who was the last person to be in possession of the state vehicle, went to the same police station to open a case of theft of a motor vehicle.
The vehicle was later found abandoned at sugar cane fields on Saturday.
On Monday, police received reports the officer implicated in the hit-and-run had taken his own life at an Umhlanga hotel.
The sergeant is understood to have called family members before he took his life.
TimesLIVE
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