Off duty policeman on the run after death of woman in George

An off duty policeman is on the run following the murder of a 31-year old woman in Zone 8 Thembalethu, in George on Friday 22 November 2019. 

According to SABC News, the man from Middelburg in the Eastern Cape, allegedly went to the house of the deceased looking for his girlfriend.

Policeman fleas the scene

Police spokesperson, Chris Spies said an altercation ensued and the policeman allegedly shot the victim, who was the sister of his girlfriend. She died on the scene.

The policeman fled in a red Toyota Yaris. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate, who visited the scene, has since taken over the investigation.

Murder Crime Stats 

In a briefing to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police in September 2019, Police Minister Bheki Cele delivered the 2018/19 crime statistics. Cele said there was a decrease in murder by 5.4 %.

However, there were 1 014 children murdered in the 2018/19 financial year, a 2.9% increase from the 985 murders the previous year.

The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit has 185 policemen to deal with gender-based violence including sexual offences. In the past financial year of 2018/19, the FCS recorded 658 life sentences out of 504 registered cases. 

“It is through the highly specialised investigative work that 387 suspects were sentenced to 20 years and above,” said Cele. 

As reported on earlier by TheSouthAfrican.com, Gauteng is prominent in crimes against women and children, leading with 53 837 reported cases. Coming in second is the Western Cape with 46 092 reported cases, and Kwa-Zulu Natal follows with 33 667 recorded cases of crime against women and children.

A total of 2.01 million crimes were recorded in 2019, down from the 2.09 million recorded in 2018. This represents a 1% increase in the number of reported crimes, along with a massive 22% decline in the number of crimes as a result of policemen taking action.