A former police officer has been convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend after attempting to lie to the court about the circumstances leading to her death.
Thandolwethu Faku was found guilty in the Western Cape High Court after the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he lied when he told the court that he was robbed at gunpoint by two unknown assailants, who then killed the mother of his daughter.
Faku was also convicted on charges of assault and attempting to defeat the administration of justice.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the off-duty police officer visited his ex-girlfriend’s shack on the evening of January 9, 2018, at R106 Site B, Khayelitsha, where he killed her with a gunshot wound to her head while she was home with her two daughters.
“The deceased, Wendy Papu, her 8-year-old daughter from another relationship and the couple’s 3-month-old daughters, were asleep. After entering the shack, the couple – whose relationship was characterised by abuse – got into an argument. The accused took out his official firearm and shot Papu in the head. He then locked the shack leaving behind a wounded Papu and her sleeping daughters. The deceased did not die immediately after being shot,” said Ntabazalila.
State Advocate Kepler Uys told the court that the mother of two was awake but unable to do anything to seek help as she had a bullet wound to the head.
“She was unable to help her younger daughter as she started crying. He further told the court that the accused boarded his black vehicle and drove off leaving the deceased to die without providing any assistance to her and her daughters. To cover up the murder, he abandoned his vehicle, his firearm, and his phone close to Strandfontein Beach near Baden Powell Drive, Mitchells Plain. He then went to Mfuleni police station and falsely reported that he had been hijacked and robbed at the deceased’s house,” said Ntabazalila.
In his testimony, Faku told the court that he went to Papu to drop off money that she had requested when he was accosted by two men who robbed him of his belongings, including his phone and wallet, and asked him to tell them where he was going.
“He testified that a gun was held to his head, and he took them to the home of the deceased where he knocked … telling the deceased it was him, and she opened the door. The next minute he was bundled into the trunk of his car by one of his assailants. Later he heard a single gunshot, followed by footsteps and the car then driving off. He further testified that he was later dropped in a bushy area and made his way to a lit-up area which he later discovered was Mfuleni SAPS, where he reported what had happened to him. He was eventually taken to Khayelitsha SAPS who then took him to the crime scene,” the court was told during trial.
The accused’s vehicle was discovered abandoned on the afternoon of January 10, 2018, but his cellphone and the firearm were not recovered.
“Under cross-examination, Advocate Uys destroyed Faku’s credibility. He called 15 witnesses, comprising nine members of the SAPS, a metro police officer, two neighbours of the deceased and the deceased’s three family members who helped him piece together a complicated case based on circumstantial evidence.
“The witnesses provided evidence which showed that the deceased was shot by someone inside the shack as opposed to the accused’s version that she was shot by someone outside the shack. The 8-year-old daughter and the deceased’s mother provided evidence which showed previous cases of abuse of the deceased.
“The accused had one goal when the State cross-examined him, and that was to mislead. This truly made the accused an exceptionally poor witness as he was not even willing to concede a simple point like working in the SAPS is a high-pressure job. In the State`s view, the accused was a mendacious, and extremely evasive witness,” said Ntabazalila.
Sentencing proceedings will resume on October 23.
Cape Times