Man kills 5 'to stop gossip'

2003-04-02 23:52

Este de Klerk

Bloemfontein - What was supposed to have been a social evening among friends from Bochabela on Tuesday, turned into a bloodbath that those who witnessed it will never forget.

Five people were brutally murdered and three others wounded when a man started shooting wildly where friends were sitting talking on a porch in Mathambo Street in Bochabela.

The alleged murderer, whom witnesses described as "the man in the street who disagrees with everyone", apparently started shooting at the group of friends because they were allegedly gossiping about him.

Constable Thandi Mbambo, police spokesperson, said on Wednesday that the 48-year-old suspect handed himself over to police. He will appear in the magistrate's court in Bloemfontein on Thursday on five counts of murder and charges of attempted murder.

Daniel Mompati, 44, owner of the house where the shooting took place, said on Wednesday that he told the suspect earlier that evening that he shouldn't swear at the people visiting him (Mompati).

"He said these people were gossiping about him. He chased me with a knife, but I ran into my house. The visitors were sitting on the porch. Then I heard shots being fired. When I came through the door, the people were lying on the floor. They were dead. He also fired shots at the house next door. I ran out into the street to the corner. There I found my wife, Esther Tlhatlogi, 57. She was also dead. Now I have to look after her child on my own."

The wounded, John Popo, 70, Charlie Mofekeng, 65, and Lydia Moreosele, 40, were very emotional and visibly shocked when they recounted the events of the evening.

"It was just one, two, three and then he had shot everyone. I was sitting against the wall and felt a sudden sting in my side. We do not know what his problem was, we had nothing to do with his troublemaking. We are used to just sitting there and talking. Suddenly, everybody was lying dead," Popo said.

Moreosele explained through her tears that her husband was shot dead. "The man who shot us should also die. He took the lives of a number of people and left many children without a family. My husband wasn't even socialising with them. He only went to use the toilet. I walked past the man to my house. When I entered the house, I felt a burning pain at the back of my head. Then I realised I was bleeding. What if all of us had died?"

The other survivors are Tau Phosane, 41, Ezekiel Moeng, 50, Robert Makebe, 48, and Annah Ngake, 45.

- Volksblad