the deceased with his girlfriend and her grandmother The Bulawayo man who was shot and killed by the police had been found naked being i...
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| the deceased with his girlfriend and her grandmother |
Paul Munakopa was parked in a secluded place with his
girlfriend in Malindela suburb, before being approached by a police patrol. He
took off and a car chase ensued. He was later shot dead.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi
yesterday described the incident as unfortunate.
“Remember we have a community policing programme in
Hillside where members of the public have partnered the police. So, it is this
team which comprises police and members of the community who were on patrol. In
the process they came across a suspiciously parked Honda Fit in a certain road
and the occupants were ordered to stop.
“But the driver drove away resulting in a high-speed chase
and in the process the driver later stopped, turned and hit (crashed against)
the police car. A big chase ensued which later resulted in a shoot-out and the
driver later died at the hospital.”
“We will release a comprehensive statement later on but we
want to urge members of the public that if they commit criminal offences, they
should stop and allow due process of the law to be followed. Particularly
during this Covid-19 situation. We later discovered that the couple was naked
in the Honda Fit and we are now investigating the matter,” he said.
But Munakopa’s mother, Mrs Erica Munakopa, disputed this. “What Tracy told us is that while they were parked outside
a home in Malindela suburb they saw a Prado with two white men and got worried
and Paul started driving away. She said they did not suspect the car had some
police officers in it as they had never seen police driving a Prado nor white
police officers.
“She said the vehicle started chasing after them until he
came to a stop. Then with no warning, police started shooting at the vehicle
and Paul was shot. The car had seven bullet holes.
“This is murder, we want the police to arrest whoever shot
my son. We went to Hillside Police Station and we found the officer who shot
him at the police station. He didn’t show any remorse over his deeds. My son
has left behind a two-year-old daughter who needs his support.”
Mrs Munakopa said Mufudzi was severely traumatised by the
incident and had to be hospitalised at UBH.
In February 2014, Paul, his brother Tafadzwa together with
their mother, were acquitted of defrauding nine people of more than $5 000 on
separate incidents in a deal to deliver stockfeed. Chronicle
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