While looking for clues after a shooting that claimed the life of a security escort, police were led to the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital where they believed another victim had been taken for treatment.
However, on arrival they learnt that the wounded man was in fact one of the robbery suspects they were tracking, and moments before dying he allegedly gave the police crucial information that led to the arrest of his alleged accomplices.
Now Mphumezi Menze and Thulani Tsana face two counts of murder, as well as charges of attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition for their alleged involvement in the robbery of two security guards who were escorting a bread delivery truck in KwaNobuhle.
The state alleges that on September 22 2022, two security guards working for Fidelity Security Services, Nkosinathi Gqogqani and Christopher George, had been escorting the bread truck since early that morning as it followed its delivery route through KwaNobuhle.
At one of the stops in Qabi Street, at about 9am, the two guards stopped their branded vehicle a few metres behind the truck to monitor the delivery and ensure the safety of the delivery drivers.
Three men approached the Fidelity vehicle and opened fire on Gqogqani and George, and a shootout ensued.
George was fatally wounded and robbed of his firearm, while Gqogqani’s cellphone was also taken from the scene.
It was later established that one of the alleged shooters, Thulani Nompondo, was also wounded in the shootout and died shortly after arriving at the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital.
His alleged accomplices were arrested hours after the incident and now face murder charges for the deaths of George and Nompondo.
The two appeared in the Gqeberha high court on Thursday where the court heard the testimony of Sergeant Michael Malgas of the police’s Crime Combating Unit in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Malgas was part of the team that made the arrests.
He said in the hours following the incident, they received information that a victim of the shooting was admitted to the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital.
However, on arrival, they determined that the patient was in fact one of the alleged attackers.
A review of the hospital’s security footage showed a silver Tata Indica arrive at the hospital.
One man got out and ran into the hospital to fetch a wheelchair, and then a second man helped to load a wounded man, who turned out to be Nompondo, into the chair and take him inside.
Malgas said on speaking to Nompondo in hospital, he told them that two men named Thulani and Jack had brought him in for treatment for the wounds he sustained. He died shortly thereafter.
Informants within the community directed police to Tsana’s address.
On their arrival at about 10pm, his sister took them to his room in the backyard of their RDP house in KwaNobuhle.
They searched the room and found a bloody T-shirt matching the clothes that one of the men had been wearing in the hospital’s CCTV footage.
The sister told them that Tsana had left for Humansdorp to visit their mother, and the police members arrived at that address at about 1am.
There they found Tsana asleep, and he allegedly had Gqogqani’s phone in his possession.
He was initially taken into custody for being in possession of suspected stolen goods.
As the members arrived at the KwaNobuhle police station with Tsana, they received information that Menze was at his girlfriend’s house nearby.
He was arrested at the address provided after police allegedly found him in possession of a 9mm cartridge and a replica firearm.
Malgas said they made contact with the police’s Organised Crime Unit which was leading the investigation and made arrangements to transport the suspects to the Mount Road police station.
The trial continues. Both accused remain in custody.
The Herald
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