A 21-year-old Scottsdene man was shot dead yesterday morning, Tuesday June 28, as he was walking home in Vera Street, Kraaifontein. Provincial police spokesman, Captain Frederick van Wyk, said the circumstances surrounding the shooting, which took place at about 7.40am, are still under investigation.
A case of murder has been opened but police could not confirm if the shooting was gang-related.
ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring said paramedics arrived on the scene just after 8am and found the man lying in the arms of a family member. He had been shot in the head.
Captain Van Wyk urged anyone with information that could help solve the crime to contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111.
* In other crime news, a 40-year-old man was left seriously injured after allegedly being thrown out of a moving train near the Brackenfell train station yesterday afternoon, said Mr Meiring. A friend had apparently witnessed the incident and called ER24.
Mr Meiring said rail authorities had stopped trains to give paramedics access to the patient found lying next to the tracks.
“On assessment, it was discovered that the man had sustained serious injuries to both his legs and well as one of his arms, leaving him in a serious condition,” he said.
Paramedics had administered advanced life support to stabilise the man before he was transported to the Mediclinic Cape Gate for urgent treatment.
Riana Scott, spokeswoman for Metrorail, said commuters had alerted Metrorail security about a person who had fallen from a train’s open doors. She said Metrorail had not received any statements and no witnesses had come forward to indicate whether the man had been thrown off the train or had fallen.
Ms Scott said Metrorail would only comment once police had investigated the incident.
* Metro police arrested two men for cable theft after a City of Cape Town employee spotted a group of men cutting cables at the Blue Ridge sports field in Wallacedene on Thursday June 23.
Officers arrived on scene, gave chase and arrested the men and also confiscated 5kg of electric copper cables and four spanners.
The City’s metals theft unit also arrested two men, aged 24 and 29, for stealing overhead copper cables near Eben Donges High School’s sports field on Tuesday June 21. This had come after a week-long stake-out by the unit.
Two days later, officers from the same unit arrested owners of an allegedly illegal scrapyard in Wallacedene, for possession of stolen City infrastructure and, on Saturday June 25, another Wallacedene man, 27, was arrested for trying to steal infrastructure from a substation at the Blue Ridge sports field.
“These are very good arrests and I’m hoping that the courts will use the recently introduced Criminal Matters Amendment Act to prosecute those arrested. Cable theft continues to be a very big headache and until we start making a real example of those caught, it’ll do very little to deter others. The legislation allows for stiff sentences for those convicted of tampering or damaging essential infrastructure and it needs to be put to good use,”’ Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said.
