The Free State High Court has sentenced 55-year-old Mozambican national Frimino David Matola to three life terms for the murder of Welkom police sergeant Disema Steven Mapane and the attempted murder of two other officers during a violent law enforcement operation in Thabong.
Mapane was killed on December 6, 2022, while part of a multidisciplinary police operation targeting suspects linked to an armed robbery at a petrol station in Welkom the previous month.
Matola was convicted on multiple serious charges, including murder, two counts of attempted murder, illegal possession of an automatic firearm, possession of ammunition, and contravention of immigration laws.
The operation involved several specialised SAPS units, including the Sasolburg Public Order Policing Unit, the Bloemfontein Tactical Response Team, and Welkom detectives who were acting on intelligence linking Matola to the robbery investigation.
Free State National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said officers had moved in after receiving information connecting Matola to the case, which led to a deadly confrontation.
“Police officers went to his residence after receiving intelligence linking him to the robbery.”
Senokoatsane revealed how a shootout reportedly broke out between Matola and the police during the operation, before he was arrested in September 2023.
During sentencing proceedings, the court also heard emotional testimony from Mapane’s widow, who detailed the devastating psychological and emotional toll his death has had on the family.
The court imposed a life sentence for murder, two additional life sentences for the attempted murders of police officers, 15 years for illegal possession of an AK-47 rifle, and further sentences for ammunition possession and immigration-related offences.
Senokoatsane said Matola remains detained at the Polokwane Correctional Centre and is still expected to stand trial in a separate cash-in-transit heist case in Hoedspruit, Limpopo.
The Star
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