Murder was no idle threat
2008-06-17 23:05
Virginia - An officer from the Department of Correctional Services, who had been threatening to kill people for some time, murdered his wife, who also worked there, before committing suicide on Sunday.
Shortly after reporting for service, Sello Ben Thobatsi, 33, left his post and, taking his service pistol, went to his house.
Apparently, he and his wife, Mpai Winfred, 34, had had an argument.
The neighbours heard six shots and found the couple's bodies on the pavement in front of their house. Both were in uniform.
Winfred apparently had a family violence interdict against her husband.
He had been arrested in the past for allegedly assaulting her.
The couple have one child Kamoholo Thobatsi, four, who was not at home at the time of the shootings.
The Northern Cape and Free State spokesperson of the department, Puleng Mokhaone, said that marital problems were possibly the cause of the shootings.