Wife slain, cop is still on duty

A VEREENIGING policeman continues to chase after dangerous criminals despite being accused of murdering his wife two years ago, the town’s court heard yesterday.

The Flying Squad member, Edward Kennedy Fox, is also living with the couple’s two children, aged five and nine, who were in the house when the incident happened.

The revelation yesterday sent shockwaves through the packed gallery of the Vereeniging courtroom where the 37-year-old appeared. The trial was meant to start yesterday but was postponed to today for the suspect to resolve his legal representation woes, which quickly became evident to the court yesterday.

It emerged in court that Fox was struggling with fees for legal representation as he had already spent R100 000 on lawyers for an internal disciplinary hearing, which will continue next month. He is out on R10 000 bail.

Speaking to The Star during a lengthy adjournment, Fox’s mother-in-law Genee Kester was dejected by the delays but hopeful that justice would prevail.

She said the family wanted the case concluded so that they could finally get closure.

She said the family were living in fear as Fox was allegedly still armed and performing his duties as a Flying Squad member.

Kester added that she had a suspicion that Fox had shot her daughter, Che Rudelle, although she did not accuse him until he was arrested in April.

“It was a motherly instinct. It is a question for mothers out there; how do we trust men if this is happening in our society?”

Fox was arrested while on duty in April after two years of investigation. At the time of the murder, he allegedly told investigators that his wife was shot dead in their bedroom by an intruder during a home invasion.

Yesterday, Fox asked the court that the matter be postponed to January for forensic investigations.

But state prosecutor Gerrie Nel objected, adamant the matter should proceed as the suspect had had “enough time” to prepare since his appearance in May.

Throngs of people clad in ANC regalia and pink T-shirts bearing beaming faces of the murder victim chanted slogans against woman abuse and called for justice.

In the background, several family members stood gathered, some of them weeping.

ANC Sedibeng Women’s League co-ordinator Nongazi Kholoza said the women were in court to condemn such abuse. “It’s wrong for us to be killed by men who see it as a way of taking out their frustrations on us.

“I believe they work in a stressful environment, but that doesn’t mean we, as women, should be victims of that,” she added.