Broad daylight arson: Cop suffers E15 000 damages
MANZINI – A broad daylight arson attack, which left damages amounting to about E15 000 at a senior police officer’s house left residents of Two Sticks in Manzini in panic mode.
The incident took place after 8am, a small township located about three kilometres in the west of the city of Manzini. The attack on the senior police officer’s home happened less than 48 hours after four gunshots were fired towards a law enforcer who is based at KaPhunga Police Station, but was hit by one. He survived the shooting.
According to a source close to the matter, in the recent incident, the police officer and his wife had left for work when the incident took place, hence they do not have a clue as to what happened.
However, he mentioned that according to the analysis of personnel from the Eswatini National Fire and Emergency Services (ENFES), the fire started on the floor of the veranda.
Meanwhile, one of the people who were in close proximity during the incident, said it was quiet outside as the rush hour for people going to work had passed.
She said she heard a loud bang outside and when she rushed to check where the noise was coming from, she saw flames at the front of the house of the police officer.
“I raised the alarm and other neighbours came to the scene. We called the ENFES while trying to put off the flames,” the source said.
She said the firefighters responded promptly to the call and when they arrived, they found that they had managed to put out the flames before the fire could cause more damage in the house. She said the firefighters took over the situation and ensured that the fire was completely put out.
Ceiling
On the other hand, the source said the fire damaged some items which were inside the veranda, the ceiling and wiring. He said the fire also damaged the window of the kitchen, together with some parts of the ceiling and wiring.
Some of the community members who were found at the scene, stated that they were concerned about their safety as the arson attack took place in broad daylight. In fact, they said their fears were that the arsonist might return and attack them after learning that they managed to put out the fire before it could cause much damage to the house.
Meanwhile, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said there was a case of a fire incident which they attended to at Two Sticks yesterday morning.
She said the police were investigating the matter and no arrest had been made yet.
On the weekend of June 25 and 26, 2022, two police officers were shot dead by unknown gunmen in a space of less than 48 hours. One incident took place on Saturday, June 25, 2022 at around 3am at Manzini Club Traffic Circle.
During this incident two police officers were shot; a male who was driving the car they were travelling in and a female officer who was a passenger.
The female police officer died after she was shot three times, while the male law enforcer was shot twice, but survived.
Thereafter, on Sunday, June 26, 2022, at around 7pm, a male police officer was shot dead while at Matsapha, about 500 metres away from Matsapha Police Station. Prior to that, several houses which were occupied by police officers were petrol-bombed at Matsapha Police Camp, on two different occasions.