The Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court on Friday denied bail to a police sergeant who allegedly fatally shot her husband after an altercation in their Soshanguve home.

She is attached to the Dube Police Station under the Visible Policing Unit, and faces a charge of premeditated murder for allegedly killing her husband and father to her three children.

According to NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, in the early hours of January 24, the couple argued at their home in Soshanguve, and the sergeant then allegedly shot her husband several times with her service pistol.

“When the neighbour heard the gunshots, it was alleged that he came to the yard and found the deceased shot on the ground. He then took the [husband] to Akasia Hospital, where he died a few hours later.”

Mahanjana said the officer was arrested by the police on the same day and the case was referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate for investigation and handling of the case.

In court, she denied intentionally killing her husband, insisting the gun went off while she wrestled with him.

She therefore asked the court to release her on bail because she is the primary caregiver of her children.

However, the prosecutor, advocate Tumelo Letaoana, opposed her release on bail and argued that the sergeant disqualified herself from the responsibility of taking care of her children, as such the children are now taken care of by the family of the deceased.

Furthermore, Letaoana told the court that she committed a serious offence of gender-based violence, where – through a voice recording that was played in court – a woman believed to be her told her friend that she was ‘tired of her cheating husband and was now going to use her power’.

Mahanjana said the magistrate agreed with the state that the officer failed to discharge the onus resting upon her to convince the court to grant her bail and that the state had outdone itself in opposing bail.

The matter was postponed to April 29 for further investigation.