Cops nab escapee on murder charge
Man accused of Brooke killing set for May trial
ONE of four men charged with the murder of British tourist Jeremy Brooke in 2014, and who escaped from police custody for a second time in April 2016, was arrested by a provincial police task team in Rustenberg in the North West last month.
Brooke was killed when intruders broke into the remote Wild Coast cottage near Elliotdale, where he had been holidaying with some friends.
Despite arrests having been made within 12 hours of the tragedy, a number of setbacks including prison escapes and the death of one of the suspects, as well as postponements, led to the trial being set for May 21.
Mkhanyiseli Qalingoma is expected to be sentenced by the Mthatha court on April 25 for escaping from police custody.
He will later join his fellow accused in Brooke’s murder and robbery trial when they appear in the Mthatha court between May 21 and June 1.
Brooke, 32, was fatally shot in the chest and face during a botched midnight robbery when five gunmen attacked the five tourists at Nkanya Lodge in Elliotdale on February 21 2014.
According to police spokesman Captain Nkosikho Mzuku, the five men accused of the attack – Sicelo Sigagayi, Malibongwe Lugalo, Akhona Tonto, Yandisa Masimini and Qalingoma – were arrested within 12 hours.
At the time of their arrest they were aged between 25 and 31 years old.
They had allegedly stolen Brooke’s Toyota bakkie, his and his friends’ laptops, cellphones and an undisclosed amount of cash during the deadly robbery.
Mzuku said both Sigagayi and Qalingoma escaped from police custody by breaking the window and bars of a police van while being transported between court and prison.
Sigagayi died after being shot during gang violence in Cape Town in June last year.
Mzuku said just hours after the 2014 shooting, two of the men were arrested in Mqanduli and a firearm, allegedly used in Brooke’s murder was confiscated. “They later led police to a nearby house where another two suspects were also arrested in possession of an illegal firearm, the laptops and the money stolen from the Elliotdale robbery.
“Two days later a fifth suspect surrendered himself to police, together with some of the items stolen from the five tourists,” said Mzuku.
They were charged with murder, possession of illegal firearms and numerous counts of robbery. On April 13 2016, while en route from Mqanduli court, Mzuku said Sigagayi and Qalingoma managed to escape from a police van that was transporting them to Wellington Prison.
“A month later, after a robbery in Mqanduli, Sigagayi was spotted driving a MercedesBenz and after an exchange of fire with police, he was shot in the arm and arrested.
“Sigagayi again managed to escape from police custody when he escaped from the back of a police van transporting him between Mqanduli and Wellington Prison.
“Sigagayi was later shot dead in Cape Town, while Qalingoma remained at large until his arrest in Rustenberg,” Mzuku said. Mzuku said one of those who led the investigations into Brooke’s killing is the province’s 2016 best detective of the year, Sergeant Phuthumani Kwenene who has continuously updated the British Embassy in Cape Town about the case.
In an interview with BBC News last September, Brooke’s mother, Marian Brooke-Morris, said her son Jeremy – Gumby to his friends and family – was born in South Africa, but had dual British and South African nationality as his parents were both British-born. —