Yet another cop falls
YET another police officer has died. Yesterday morning Detective Nevell du Toit shot his girlfriend Zaheda Peters twice before turning the gun on himself at Peters’s home in Strand.
Du Toit, 44, was outside Peters’s home when he shot himself. Neighbours said yesterday they heard what sounded like two gunshots at about 5.40am. Peters, 31, was shot twice; in the shoulder and head. She was seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Peters’s neighbour, Lilian van Reenen, was getting ready to take her son to the bus stop when she heard two shots.
When she returned to her house the police were on the scene. Another neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said when she heard two loud bangs she thought someone had knocked into her garage door. A few minutes later she saw the police in the street.
Peters and Du Toit had been together for two years. She has two young children and Du Toit had two older children, one in matric and another who is studying nursing.
Du Toit was a detective at the Macassar police station and lived in Victoria Park in Somerset West.
At the end of last month, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said 60 police officers had been killed since the start of the year, compared to 47 during the same period last year.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said the circumstances around the shooting were being investigated and a case of attempted murder had been opened. Late last night, Rwexana said Peters was still being treated in hospital.
Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Robert Daniels said an ambulance arrived just before 6am and rushed Peters to the Vergelegen Mediclinic in a serious condition. Du Toit’s identical twin brother, Neil, said his family was still reeling. He said no one had anticipated that Du Toit would shoot Peters and himself.
“We are all shocked. Everything seemed fine with Nevell. I never would have thought something like this would happen,” Neil said.
Less than an hour before the shooting a picture of his family was posted on his Facebook page. Another post, on Sunday, read: “My children may not have everything they want in life, but they have a parent who loves them more than anything in the world.”
Acting provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile said the policing fraternity was saddened by the incident. “We do not wish this upon anyone,” Patekile said.
Meanwhile, presidential protection unit Warrant Officer Benedict Peloeole, who allegedly gunned down his wife and daughter at the weekend, appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said it would be opposing bail.
His family were also present, but declined to speak to the media. It is alleged that Peloeole arrived home on Saturday evening and asked his wife to prepare a meal, before he disappeared into a room where his service pistol was kept.
He then allegedly fired shots at his wife and daughter. According to Ipid, his daughter was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest. He allegedly shot his wife twice; once in the head as well, while the second bullet hit the side of her body. Then he dropped off his son and nephew at a neighbour’s house and asked to be taken to the police station, where he handed himself in. francesca.villette@inl.co.za, tankiso.makhetha@inl.co.za @FrancescaJaneV