Two men get 8 years for attempted murder of cops
ALEXANDRA - Two Mozambique nationals have each been sentenced to 8 years in jail by the Alex Magistrate Court for attempted murder of policemen on duty and also for trespassing.
The Alex Magistrates’ Court has sentenced two men to eight years in jail for the attempted murder of police officers and for trespassing.
The two, plus a third accomplice, were involved in a shootout with three policemen in Ext 10, in Alex in December last year. The men’s accomplice was killed in the encounter.
The court heard that at about midnight, two of the men had jumped a gate into a yard of a home and knocked on the front door while their accomplice kept watch at the gate. The occupants of the house, a man and his aunt, are said to have woken up and switched on the front light when they heard someone attempting to open the front door.
The occupants called the police who responded quickly but found no one in the yard. The police left after giving the occupants a cellphone number to call in case the intruders returned. A short while later, the gang returned and tried to force entry into the house. The occupants called the police again and as officers arrived, the three intruders opened fire on them from inside the yard.
In the ensuing shootout, one of the intruders was fatally wounded, while his two accomplices escaped. However, police found one of them hiding in a neighbour’s yard underneath a car and the other was apprehended trying to escape on foot.
All three had guns in their possession. Nothing was taken from the house.
