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ROYAL WING COP FOUND DEAD IN FOREST

04/07/2019 01:42:00 BY KWANELE SIBIYA

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MANZINI- A police officer attached to the Royal Wing has been found dead in a forest, with a gunshot wound on the head.
Even though police believe it was a suicide, they are leaving no stone unturned in the matter.

The police officer who allegedly shot himself, was working under the Royal Wing as a chef, based at Lozitha.
At the time he reportedly killed himself, he had visited home.

The deceased is a son to a former senator, who is also a chief in one of the chiefdoms under the Manzini Region. The name of the officer is known to this publication; but cannot be revealed for now as efforts to contact his family were futile at the time of compiling this report.
Also, police stated that they had still not formally reported the incident when they confirmed the report.

Information

According to police sources who are privy to information regarding to the incident, they strongly suspect that the police officer ended his life using his father’s gun at a bush, situated adjacent to his parental home at Mahlangatsha.

They, however, could not elaborate on why they believed the officer had used his father’s pistol as they claimed investigations were ongoing.
Mahlangatsha is a community closer to Mankayane, a town in the western part of the Manzini Region; which is about 50km from the hub of the country, Manzini.

According to impeccable sources, the law enforcer is believed to have committed the suicide on Tuesday night, though his body was only discovered yesterday around midday by passers-by, who immediately called the police.
It is suspected that he shot himself because he was found with a single gunshot wound on the head, with the pistol next to him, close to his hand.

Arrangements

By late yesterday, police officers were still making arrangements to notify his next of kin about the tragedy.
Information was scanty on what could have prompted the officer to decide to end his life.
Deputy Police Information and Communication Officer Inspector Nosipho Mguni confirmed the matter.

However, she cited that information pertaining to the demise of the police officer was still scanty as the police were still investigating the matter. Again, the police mouthpiece said full details of the deceased could not be released as they were still to meet his next of kin about the tragic death of their loved one.
In an almost similar incident, another cop committed suicide around this time last year in Manzini.

The cop shot and killed himself in public on a Monday morning.
The constable was based at the police headquarters in Mbabane. He shot himself dead right in the centre of Manzini after he was involved in a car accident.
He was a chauffeur for one of the senior police officers and was driving a white Chevrolet Cruz sedan belonging to the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) when it veered off the road, went through the pavement, before hitting a waste bin and a fence near the entrance of the Manzini Municipal Council offices along Nkoseluhlaza Street.

This is the same vehicle he used to drive on a daily basis while chauffeuring the senior cop around as part of his duties.

Farewell

After being involved in the accident, he got out of the car, called a few of his police friends on his mobile phone and said he was bidding them farewell.
His friends asked him where he was and he told them. According to security guards manning the municipality’s main gate, the constable then walked towards Swazi Handicrafts.

His friends arrived shortly thereafter and saw the car.
They asked for the whereabouts of the driver of the car from the security guards and they showed them the direction which the constable had taken.
As they were talking, they heard the sound of one gunshot.

They ran towards the direction of the sound of the gunshot and found him lying in a pool of blood, dead.
He had shot himself in the head using a service rifle.