Policeman takes own life after hit-and-run on Phoenix Highway

A policeman who fled the scene of an accident that resulted in the death of a 26-year-old woman, committed suicide at an Umhlanga Rocks hotel on Monday morning.

Events in this incident unfolded on Monday with a farmer reporting a suspicious abandoned vehicle on his property in Canelands, near Verulam.

Reaction Unit South Africa’s Prem Balram, who was alerted to the suspicious vehicle by the farmer, said it all started with trying to trace the owner of the vehicle.

“Reaction officers proceeded to the area in Canelands and located an accident-damaged black Toyota Fortuner. The registration plates were missing. The vehicle was fitted with blue emergency lights. Reaction Officers conducted a vehicle ownership check with details from the licence disc and it was confirmed that the vehicle belonged to the South African Police Service (SAPS). It was reported stolen at the Phoenix SAPS on Friday. It was later established that it was the same vehicle that was being sought for a hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of Phumla Mtshali. Her family believed that the policeman reported the vehicle stolen in an attempt to manipulate the investigation.

“It is also believed that the driver had sped off without assisting the critically injured pedestrian that he had knocked on the Phoenix Highway. A registration plate belonging to the vehicle was recovered at the scene but removed from the scene by an unknown person minutes later,” said Mr Balram.

He said shortly after the recovery of the vehicle, they received information that a warrant officer from the South African Police Service (SAPS) was being sought for arrest for the culpable homicide of Ms Mtshali, a mother of two children.

“The police officer allegedly made telephonic contact with several of his family members before he took his own life at a hotel in Umhlanga, the details of which are being withheld. We are also withholding further details for privacy reasons,” said Mr Balram.

SAPS spokesman Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed the incident and said they were investigating.