Robbed by cop: Shop owner
speaks out
“I heard him ask the cop not to shoot him.”
July 9, 2014
ONE of a gang of five alleged ‘rogue cops’
was shot dead in an attempted
armed robbery at Theo’s Fruit and
Vegetable Market in Umzinto last Friday evening.
Another robber and the son of the store owner
were also wounded in the gun battle.
A traumatised Nad Govender, the owner of the
store, said: “I had just left the store and my two sons were locking up. When I
phoned to check up on them, my son told me the police were there. He then put
the phone in his pocket and I heard him ask the cop not to shoot him.”
Realising there was something very wrong, he
rushed back to the shop.
“When I got there they opened fire. My son
and I returned fire. In 20 years I have never had an incident and now this,” he
said.
The shop owner’s son, Prenolin, is in ICU at
St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban.
The ordeal unfolded when the heavily armed
men in uniform entered the store about 6pm. They apparently disregarded
requests for identification and warrants. They then roughed up the staff and
demanded cash from the safe.
While leaving, the robbers opened fire. The
owner and his son returned fire.
One of the robbers was shot dead, another was
severely injured and the other three fled.
