Shooting of mother and child shrouded in mystery
What exactly triggered Mnisi to jump from the moving vehicle and open fire, has yet to be determined.
LYDENBURG – In a bizarre incident a woman and her threeyear-old daughter were shot by an off-duty police officer on Saturday at 19:40. According to communications manager of Lydenburg SAPS, Capt Alfred Moela, the officer, Const Nkosi Ngiphile Emmanuel Mnisi (29) from Lydenburg SAPS, was a passenger in his friend’s white Toyota Tazz.
He was accompanied by his wife and three other friends when the incident occurred. “The woman, Ms Beatrice Dube (24), was walking from Mandela Village towards Duma Village with her daughter when Mnisi suddenly jumped out of the moving vehicle and started firing shots at Dube and her child. She was wounded in both thighs and the child sustained a head wound.”
As soon as he had fired the shots, Mnisi’s wife immediately confiscated his firearm. Mnisi was said to be clenching his head and crying shortly after he opened fire on Dube and her child. They were taken to Lydenburg Hospital by bystanders who were on the scene. Mnisi, his wife and the three other friends followed them to the hospital where he was arrested by police officers.
“The child was later transferred to Rob Ferreira Hospital in Mbombela for treatment,” Moela said. He said Mnisi was a relief member of Lydenburg SAPS who worked shifts. “When I questioned Dube about the incident, she said she just heard gunshots all of a sudden. At first she did not realise that the shots were fired in her direction. Only after the shooting stopped, she noticed that she and her child had both been wounded,” said Moela.
Mnisi’s friends with whom he was travelling were also severely shocked about what they had witnessed. What exactly triggered Mnisi to jump from the moving vehicle and open fire, has yet to be determined. He appeared in Lydenburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday. His case was postponed to November 1. Mnisi will remain in police custody and has since been transferred to Mbombela’s correctional facility.
He is being charged with attempted murder. Dube is still being treated at Lydenburg Hospital and her daughter at Rob Ferreira. The investigation is pending
