[Another terrible tale from this lawless country of ours. It appears of late, as if our terrible crime is getting even worse. Our Govt of course staunchly maintains that crime is “going down”. Lying bastards. Jan]

While it isn’t unusual for police reservist Maryke Labuschagne to see horrific incidents of crime, seeing her police inspector husband being shot dead was the “ugliest thing ever”.

When Inspector Jakobus “Lappies” Labuschagne took his last breath last Friday, his 25-year-old wife became an unemployed widow with two young boys – aged six and three – to look after.

On Friday evening, when a call came through at the Nigel police station about a robbery taking place at Nigel Textile Works, the Labuschagnes were part of the team that responded. There were lots of police officers at the scene and the two went to the parking lot at the front of the building, next to a stretch of veld.

‘I heard a gunshot and I saw him fall’
Then Maryke said to her husband: “There is movement in the grass.” But she restrained him when he wanted to get out of the car to investigate. She pleaded with him to wait for back-up.

“I then called for back-up. My husband had his gun and torch ready and then we got out of the car. He was walking in front of me and I heard him shout ‘Hey you’. Then I heard a gunshot and I saw him fall,” she said.

“I remember him lying there, blood all over, unable to speak and there were gurgling noises in his throat. He had been shot in the stomach and under the chin. That was so horrible, I will never forget it. One sees bad things happen in the police force, but that was the ugliest thing ever.”

Within seconds, police officers arrived at the scene and called paramedics, but the inspector died in an ambulance before he reached hospital.

The couple used to talk about the danger in their jobs but they had adopted an “it will never happen to us’ attitude. Lappies, who had been an officer for 15 years, had recruited his wife to the force five years ago, and she loved every minute of it.

“I did this for five years without pay; it was for the love of it,” she said, managing a smile.

But as she looked at the flowers from friends, relatives and colleagues in her lounge, the smile disappeared from her face.

“I don’t know whether I will go back (to the SAPS) but I know that Lappies would definitely want me to go,” she said.

“He had always wanted to be a police officer – we were a police family. Life will be hard without him. The children were daddy’s boys. I don’t think they understand what is going on,” she said.

Two suspects were arrested at the scene and a firearm was confiscated. Lappies will be buried on Friday.

This article was originally published on page 7 of The Star on June 29, 2006

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>