The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) has welcomed the 20-year sentence handed to Ekurhuleni metro police department (EMPD) officer Robert Ngobeni for the murder of his girlfriend and the attempted murder of her four-year-old child in 2023.
The Johannesburg high court passed the sentence after a case that revealed a domestic violence history between the accused and his girlfriend, Constance Phalane.
“Two EMPD colleagues arrived at Ngobeni’s home in Lekaneng, Thembisa, on September 21 2023 to fetch him for work. The pair found the gate locked and were alerted by a neighbour who said he had heard gunshots coming from the room the night before,” Ipid spokesperson Lizzy Suping said on Friday.
The officers jumped the fence and spotted bloodstains on the doorstep. After obtaining a key from a child at the property, they unlocked the door and found Phalane’s body on the bed with multiple gunshot wounds.
“The four-year-old child had been shot in the shoulder and Ngobeni was found lying on the floor in a pool of blood with his service firearm next to him.”
Suping said the emergency services took the child and Ngobeni to hospital, and Ngobeni was placed under police guard.
“The court sentenced Ngobeni to 15 years for murder and 15 years for attempted murder, ordering that 10 years of the attempted murder term run concurrently with the murder sentence, leaving him with an effective 20 years behind bars.”
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