JMPD officers arrested in journalist murder case
JOHANNESBURG – Three Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers have been arrested in connection with the murder of journalist Godknows Nare.
Nare, an independent investigative journalist who came from Zimbabwe, was shot in Florida, west of Johannesburg, on 17 April last year.
The officers are expected to be charged with murder and defeating the ends of justice.
“It will be for the main count of murder and the other charges if there are any, we will have to see what happens in court. We are going to allow for the process to take its course and we will see how to deal with it from there,” said JMPD spokesman Wayne Minnaar.
“We are sorry it happened. Our officers have the task to face criminals on a daily basis, they must fulfil their responsibility, [but] sometimes the criminals are heavily armed so officers have a very difficult task.”
The JMPD has said its officers believed Nare was a hijacker when they shot him, acting in self-defence.