First image of Melville shooter
Affluence Perfect gifts for Valentine’s Day As illustrated by facial reconstruction specialist Jeanette Naude
SHAUN SMILLIE
THIS is the face of the suspected Melville shooter minutes before he gunned down two people and injured six others outside Poppy’s restaurant on New Year’s Day.
He was sitting in the back seat of the black BMW X5 that was involved in the drive-by shooting that night.
His image just happened to be caught by a CCTV camera on 4th Avenue, at the corner of 7th Street, Melville.
And even though this picture was grainy and of poor quality, facial reconstruction specialist Jeanette Naude was able to tease out an image of the man, using Photoshop and a magnifying glass.
It is an image that catches him with his head possibly slightly leaning out of the vehicle.
In his mouth is a cigarette or a lollipop that suggests an air of confidence, of a man comfortable with the evil he was about to do. Perhaps he is confident because the shooting he was about to do requires a skill set only the few have.
On his head appears to be a hat with ear flaps and Naude believes he is light skinned and is either white or coloured.
Naude said the hat could even be a bicycle helmet. He shares the car with two accomplices – a driver and a front passenger.
“The driver has a fuller face, he has got eyebrows that are quite prominent and it looked to me as if he was going forward. I don’t know why, perhaps he was also looking for something,” said Naude.
Naude stresses that there is an element of speculation in her work, but what she does draw on is decades of working in the SAPS, where her sketches and facial reconstructions helped put countless criminals behind bars.
In one of those cases, her facial reconstruction of a suspect was so good, that police caught the rapist when they randomly stopped a man in the street and brought him in for questioning due to his likeness to the identikit.
In court, the magistrate at first believed that Naude’s image of the rapist was actually a photograph of the man.
“When I saw his picture, at the back of the car, it looked like he didn’t belong there. The face was too big,” said Naude, who since started her company Crime Face.
“If you compare his head to the driver’s head on the right hand side, it looks too big. But I think his face is larger because he has it half way out the car.”
Just over a month has passed since the shooting that left two people dead, and six other injured.
The shooting happened, according to police, about 1am, when a gunman opened fire as the BMW slowly rolled past a number of revellers who had gathered outside Poppy’s restaurant.
A network of CCTV cameras captured not only the shooting but also the car, minutes before the incident took place. The BMW appeared to be scouting the area. This, if the time stamps on the CCTV footage is correct.
Police soon discovered that the car registration, that can be seen clearly in the CCTV, was fake and had been cloned, from another vehicle.
Initially, police appeared confident that they would make a quick arrest. However, later, sources close to the investigation admitted that they were struggling to find the culprits.
Infuriated by the “irresponsible social media behaviour”, he intends hunting down the person who first posted his picture and suing them.
Yesterday his company issued a statement claiming the assignation occurred in the office below theirs.
“Categorically, these are not Fieldstone’s offices and the people in the video are not our employees.
“We understand that the company in whose offices the incident occurred has taken disciplinary action against the participants,” the statement read.
Sibda said: “My mother, children, family and friends are all disturbed by this. I have been trolled and falsely accused of something I didn’t do.”
Fieldstone condemned the posting of the video and the naming of its managing director, vowing to stand by him.
“While prurient gossip is understandable, it is regrettable,” it said.
“It is even more regrettable that the good name of our managing director, Zahed Sibda, is being tarnished through allegations made with absolutely no proof.
“We are deeply sorry that an employee of ours has been accused and are extending every support to him. We reserve our legal rights with regards to the originator of the scandal.”
Meanwhile, social media is having a field day. Some people are dusting off their CVS to work in Africa’s richest square mile, while others are posting pictures of themselves in yellow dresses hoping to advance their careers vertically by taking the lateral route.
One enterprising individual has set the now viral clip to music, while others have been rather disparaging of the man’s prowess.
Katherine & West Body Corporate, which owns the office block, Fieldstone and the unnamed company that apparently employed the amorous staffers, moved hard yesterday to distance itself from the matter, saying it had no control over the behaviour of staff working for other companies.
“We urge all management to discuss conduct matters with their staff,” it said.