'What are you doing here?'

2008-11-24 22:34

Cape Town - Former police officer Marius van der Westhuizen, charged with the murder of his own three children, cocked the trigger of his gun twice before a shot went off in his suicide bid, the Cape High Court heard on Monday.

Van der Westhuizen resigned from the police last year, as a senior superintendent based at the Claremont police station, and is on trial before Judge Willem Louw, and assessor M Powell.

Former police inspector Jaap Koekemoer told the court he was deployed to the Van der Westhuizen home in Brackenfell, after police reports of a shooting incident.

After entering their house, and going from room to room, he had to kick open the locked kitchen door to get access to the back yard, where Van der Westhuizen was hiding around midnight on July 28 2006.

Van der Westhuizen heard the noise of the door being kicked open, and as he (Koekemoer), and a colleague took up positions in the back yard, Van der Westhuizen shouted: "Who are you and what are doing here?"

Koekemoer shouted back that they were from the police special task force.

Van der Westhuizen shouted back that they must get off the property or he would shoot them.

At that point a barking dog approached them, then returned in the direction where he emerged from.

This gave Koekemoer an idea where Van der Westhuizen was hiding.

Koekemoer said he and his colleague each had a rifle, with a very powerful torch attached, of the kind used by police snipers.

Koekemoer said they switched on their torches, and could see Van der Westhuizen lift a hand that held a gun.

Koekemoer told the court: "We told him to put down the firearm, but he cocked it instead, and then lowered his hand."

Koekemoer said Van der Westhuizen lifted the gun again, and again cocked the firearm.

Van der Westhuizen then lowered his hand for the second time, after Koekemoer again ordered him to put down his firearm.

When Van der Westhuizen lifted his hand a third time, with the firearm still in it, a shot rang out.

Koekemoer said he and his colleague returned fire in the mistaken belief that Van der Westhuizen had fired a shot at them.

Koekemoer said they fired back in the direction of a barrel in the back yard, and when they found Van der Westhuizen soon afterwards he had a bullet wound under his chin and another exit wound under one of his eyes.

This indicated that Van der Westhuizen had actually shot himself, and that none of the shots fired at him by the police had hit him, Koekemoer said.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

- SAPA