Policeman goes on shooting rampage

Three Milnerton girls - twins aged four years and their sister of six - made a desperate dash for their lives after a police officer murdered their mother on Tuesday night, but in vain.

Down the road from the Milnerton police station, the off-duty police officer, an inspector, also ended the life of a 43-year-old man from a neighbouring suburb.

He had shot the mother, her daughters and the man in the head at point-blank range with his 9mm service pistol, police spokesperson Riaan Poole said.

The inspector is in custody.

Poole could not confirm the relationship between the officer, aged 48, and the victims.

The inspector may not be named until he has appeared in court - which he may do on Wednesday.

He was from the Eastern Cape and was on leave, visiting relatives in Cape Town, said Poole.

"The woman and the police inspector have the same surname, but I am not yet able to say whether they were husband and wife. The suspect is not saying anything," said Poole.

The rampage began at the home of the woman and her children in Hercules Drive in Phoenix, down the road from the Milnerton police station in Koeberg Road.

"It appears he entered the Hercules Street house about 8.30pm. Shortly afterwards he shot a 35-year-old woman in her bedroom. When the shooting began there were three girls... also in the house.

"When the first shot was fired, the three girls began running from the house in an attempt to reach the safety of neighbouring houses.

Unfortunately the inspector caught up with them, shooting the two four-year-olds in the street and the third girl as she ran into the garden of a house (across the road). They all died at the scene."

Before neighbours could react, the inspector ran across the road to the neighbouring suburb of Joe Slovo.

In Hlosi Street, he shot and killed a 43-year-old man in his home.

"The suspect was chased by members of the Joe Slovo community who apprehended him in Bosmansdam Road, about 1,5km from the second scene.

"They made a citizen's arrest and handed him over to police minutes later. A 9mm pistol was confiscated."

Police handed the inspector and the case over to the Independent Complaints Directorate for investigation.

The directorate probes criminal behaviour by members of the police service.

Fatima Bayat, executive director of the Advice Desk for the Abused, said children were becoming more at risk in situations involving domestic and gender-based violence.

"It is very unfortunate and sad to note that our children are fast becoming primary victims as opposed to secondary victims of domestic and gender-based violence," she said.

"As children, we are led to believe that our fathers will protect and provide for us and mothers will assume a caring, emotional and maternal role in our lives.

"But as we grow older, the harsh realisation of life's trials and tribulations suddenly dawns on us.

"There is sometimes the realisation that the person who is supposed to protect the family is now a feared entity in the home."

The Domestic Violence Act and a "woman-friendly constitution" had been implemented to attempt to provide maximum protection to victims of domestic violence.

But it would be naive to conclude that women and children in SA had or would attain freedom and equality readily, Bayat said.

The incidence of family killings had increased at a phenomenal rate.