Pretoria - A man who acted in self-defence when he shot three robbers dead who were trying to hijack him and a family member in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, has been acquitted on three charges of murder.
The court found that the pair were threatened and that the man had acted reasonably at the time.
A judge sitting in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, said “a judge should take care not to assess the events like an armchair critic”.
Muhammed Ebrahim faced three charges of murder after he did not hesitate to shoot the three men who had confronted him and his cousin while they were on their way to buy hunting equipment.
Ebrahim told the court that he was fetched by his cousin in a Mercedes-Benz at about midday on July 3, 2013.
On their way to the shop they stopped next to the road, when a Golf vehicle stopped with screeching tyres in front of their car. A man wearing a balaclava emerged with a gun and pointed it at his cousin.
Ebrahim said in his mind he knew it was a hijacking. He heard shots and saw a muzzle flash come from inside the Golf. His cousin, who took cover, was shouting at him “shoot”.
As he was also armed at the time, Ebrahim said he started firing at the Golf. He then tried to take cover, but he saw the door of the Golf opening and a leg emerging. He continued to fire in the direction of the Golf, while the latter’s occupants also fired in his direction.
Things then went quiet and he noticed a man with the blue overall lying next to the car. After the shoot-out he noticed that his magazine was empty and he could not recall if he had fired 14 or 15 bullets as he was so traumatised.
Ebrahim said he had no choice but to shoot in self-defence and he accepted that someone could have been killed. He denied that he had pulled the occupants out of the Golf and that he shot at them while they were lying on the ground.
A witness, Glory Gafane, who was on patrol in the area as part of a community watch group, testified that near the train station in Braamfontein she noticed a Golf following a Mercedes.
When the Mercedes stopped at a stop sign, an occupant got out of the Golf and walked towards it.
The next thing someone shot at him from the Mercedes. She then saw the two occupants getting out of the car and they walked towards the driver and passenger sitting in the Golf.
According to her the two men, which included Ebrahim, fired shots at the two men in the Golf. She said they then pulled them out of the car and fired further shots while they were on the ground.
The court, however, found this witness to be unreliable and said it accepted the evidence of Ebrahim, who said he had to fight for his life.
He and his cousin found themselves in a hijacking situation. The Golf was linked to a case where the owner of the Golf was robbed of his vehicle. The accused and his cousin were faced with a hijacking and had to defend themselves.
The number of shots fired was commensurate with the threat that he experienced and he was justified in warding off the attack.
It was found that Ebrahim had killed the hijackers in self-defence and he was acquitted on all the charges.
Pretoria News