Two men acquitted of murdering Cape Town police officer
Two men were on Wednesday acquitted of the murder of Kraaifontein police officer Rozelle Witbooi in February 2014.
Handing down judgement in the Western Cape High Court, Judge Sakkie Maartens found there was not enough evidence for a murder conviction against Mbongiseni Sithelo and Sicelo Kwayimani.
“A conviction of murder cannot stand and particular facts in this case do not lead to a conviction of culpable homicide,” Maartens said.
Sithelo was however convicted of the attempted murder of Witbooi, while Kwayimani was again acquitted on the same charge.
Maartens said while one of the men pulled the trigger of the weapon which killed Witbooi, the court was not in a position to pronounce which of the two fired the fatal shot.
“We are not in a position to reach a finding as to which accused pulled the trigger.”
Witbooi was killed after she and her partner, Jonathan Koopman, responded to an armed robbery at a vegetable farm in Kraaifontein.
Sithelo was also convicted of the attempted murder of Koopman, but his co-accused was acquitted.
Both men were convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances in relation to the incident at the farm, but acquitted on kidnapping charges which arose after they locked farmworkers in a cold storeroom.