- Police in Sterkspruit, Mpumalanga arrested their colleague for allegedly killing a man at a tavern and dumping his body.
- The off-duty police captain told police that he found the body next to a field.
- But, further investigation revealed that he shot the man, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
An off-duty Mpumalanga police officer's day at a tavern ended with his arrest for the murder of a man he claimed to have found dead next to an open field in Sterkspruit.
But the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said the police captain used his service pistol to shoot the man at the tavern, dumped his body and then went to the police station and claimed that he found a dead body.
IPID spokesperson Grace Langa said in a statement that police and the officer went to the scene together on Friday.
"On arrival, the members noticed that the deceased had a gunshot wound. The officer was allegedly pressed with questions and was also asked where his firearm was. He told them the gun was with his mother."
They went to his home and asked his mother to hand over the firearm but she told them she knew nothing about the gun.
They searched his bedroom and found it under a pillow on the bed. The officer then confessed that he shot the man at a tavern. He said he rushed the man to hospital but nurses refused to help because he was already dead.
"He was then arrested immediately. The shooting took place in the tavern where the suspect was consuming liquor. IPID took the suspect to hospital to be tested [to check whether] he consumed liquor or not. A post-mortem on the deceased will be conducted on Tuesday, 16 November 2021," Langa added.
The officer is expected to appear in the Sterkspruit Magistrate's Court on Monday.