Mom killed in cop van: Family just want answers on fatal shooting
|Published
DEAD: Nolukhanyo Nkosiyane. Picture supplied
A Kraaifontein family is looking for answers after a 20-year-old mom was killed inside a police van.
The family from Bloekombos say it took police three weeks to contact them after Nolukhanyo Nkosiyane, 20, was shot and killed after the police van came under attack by armed boewe.
Nolukhanyo was shot in the head on April 29. She died a day later in hospital.
According to police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie, due to the nature of the case, SAPS needs time to formulate an appropriate response to the media.
Family spokesperson Sandla Phicani said it all started when the young woman went out with her friends that Saturday night.
He said Nolukhanyo was a bietjie dronk and her concerned tjommies took her to the Kraaifontein SAPS for a lift home from police officers, as Bloekombos was a high crime area.
“Her friends were on their way to Khayelitsha to groove but she didn’t want to go with them and asked them to drop her at the nearest police station,” Sandla says.
“She was a little bit drunk and didn’t want to walk home alone as it was not safe.
“Her friends dropped her off at Kraaifontein Police Station and the police later took her home in the double-cab police van.
“The police stopped in Old Paarl Road near a high school after a stranger stopped them asking for help.
“And that is when a gunman opened fire and shot at the police van.
“The bullet missed the cop sitting in front, but struck Nolukhanyo in the forehead in the backseat where she was sitting.
“Some people said the police ran away from the bakkie after the shooting, but we don’t know if it is true.
“She died a day after the shooting at Karl Bremer Hospital.”
Sandla said that for three weeks they didn’t hear anything from the police.
“Then on Sunday they came to the family for the first time,” he explains
“They told us that they haven’t taken statements yet from the officers who were involved in that incident.
Sandla added: “Her one-year-old daughter misses her mom and doesn’t understand that her mommy died.
“No one works in our family. We want to bury her in the Eastern Cape but we don’t have R10 000 for her funeral.”
Anyone who is able to assist Nolukhanyo’s family with the burial can contact Sandla on 073 257 3071.