At the time of the shooting, the suspect accused of killing Const Ashwin Pedro was out on bail for alleged rape.
Pedro, 26, was killed after an altercation with the suspect in Parkwood.
The perpetrator was arrested for rape earlier this year, according to Col Dawood Laing, station commander at Grassy Park Police Station.
“The perpetrator was in prison for a rape case and had other cases dropped.” We will look at where we went wrong and correct those dockets so they can be added to the court roll. “The suspect will be charged with murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm and ammunition,” Laing says.
Pedro was well-liked by his coworkers and fellow officers at Grassy Park Police Station, according to Laing.
“A large number of officers who were not on duty rushed to the scene.” They wanted to come to the crime scene and say their final goodbyes.
“There were a number of neighbourhood watches last night from the community.” The Community Policing Forum (CPF) was present in full force, demonstrating how important this member was to the community even at his young age.”
Laing adds that earlier this year, the police and CPF launched a campaign to prevent attacks on emergency workers.
“In March of this year, we were working on a project in the entire Grassy Park area when my officers were attacked in both Parkwood and Ottery.”
“We started the Parkwood project to ask the community not to attack the officers; they are there to protect them.” We are humans, just like them, but we are the only barrier between anarchy and peace, and we want to create a peaceful environment.”
He believes Pedro had the potential to become a high-ranking police officer. “Unfortunately, God had other plans.”
Lt Gen Thembisile Patekile, Western Cape provincial commissioner, paid his respects to the family in Lavender Hill on Friday, December 2.
“When that person attacked and killed our member, he was doing his job to protect the community.”
“We came here today to console the family and share their grief because their loss is our loss, as well as the loss of the country and community.”
“What was particularly difficult was that his father stated that he had never had to arrange a funeral before, and that it would be the first time because of a person who has no regard for the law or human life.”
He went on to say that the suspect had been apprehended and would face the full force of the law.
“We are going to do everything we can, we are opposing bail, to ensure he never sees the light of day, and the court will make that decision.”
“But we’ll make sure that we tell the courts not to let this person out, that he can’t get bail.” “He has to sit there for what he did,” Patekile said.
Meanwhile, Stanford Grass of Grassy Park’s Steven Road Neighborhood Watch says one officer killed is too many.
“It’s really unfortunate that this is happening to one of our members.” We also patrol, and the hours between 02:00 and 04:00 are the most dangerous. Our children are at home, and they never know when we will return.
“As a new member of the neighbourhood watch, it was really eye-opening to see that we need to be more cautious, especially now that it’s the holiday season.”
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