Dennis Paradise Nghunyulu, 59, was attached to the Modjadjiskloof Police Station before he murdered 23-year-old Osi Mkhabela and attempted to murder the deceased’s 26-year-old brother. This follows an incident at Nghunyulu’s tavern in Makosha village where Nghunyulu used his wife’s licenced firearm and shot two people and fled the scene on May 18, 2019.

The court heard that Nghunyulu was about to close his tavern in the early hours of the morning at around 01:00 when a fight ensued between him and a customer which resulted in Nghunyulu shooting the customer and his brother. The victim was certified dead at the scene by paramedics. His brother survived and was transported to Nkhensani Hospital.

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The case was investigated by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID). The incident stirred anger in the community of Makosha which led to a rampage the next day with community members barricading roads while others went to the tavern and torched it along with Nghunyulu’s vehicles.

Nghunyulu later handed himself over to the police. He appeared before the local magistrate’s court on June 2, 2019, and was granted bail. Nghunyulu received ten years for murder and three years for attempted murder. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. The provincial commissioner of police in Limpopo, Lt Gen Thembi Hadebe, said that no one is above the law.