The woman who was shot dead alongside her husband on Wednesday outside the Randburg magistrate’s court was due to be cross-examined in a torture case against four police officers from the Alexandra trio task team.
The woman, who was a domestic worker, was a complainant in the matter.
The policemen, who the court ordered should not be named, allegedly tortured the woman after they arrested her in connection with a robbery at her employer’s home at a plot in Midrand.
The incident happened in 2018 and a case was opened with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
The woman had testified that she was arrested after the house robbery.
“She was booked out by the accused before court and taken to a house where she alleges that she was tortured by the accused as they suspected that she formed part of the case of house robbery at her employer’s premises,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane.
The woman and her husband were killed by a gunman on Wednesday morning. The shooter reportedly leapt out of a black Mercedes-Benz. A manhunt is under way for the shooter and his accomplices.
According to state prosecutor Yusuf Baba, the woman’s husband was also a state witness in the case.
The couple have not yet been named.
TimesLIVE Premium has learnt that the woman and her husband were the parents of three minor children.
Meanwhile, after the shooting, the state filed an urgent application against the accused at the Randburg magistrate’s court, to gather evidence in the murder.
The state led the evidence of the witness, who is the lead investigator in the murder incident, Lt-Col Andile Mankayi from Gauteng detectives.
“It became vital to the investigation team that anyone will be treated as a possible suspect. It also became vital to the investigation team that we acquire or take primary residue tests, which is the gun powder tests from the accused sitting before the court,” he said.
He told the court that it became vital that they also seize the cellphones and guns of the accused.
The four policemen are out on bail.
Magistrate Godwin Sadiki granted the application in terms of section 36 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
“The respondents must co-operate with the investigating officers. The respondents must hand in their firearms both official and personal ones. Their cellphones must be handed in,” he said.
The matter was postponed for November 23 for the prosecutor to assess the merits of the case before it decides to proceed further.
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