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3 year old Atlegang Aphane was shot by South African Police

by Gordon Clark | November 10, 2009 at 12:44 pm

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Atelgang Aphane, a 3 year old South African was shot by a police officer while sitting in his parents car. He was in a car that the police thought might belong to suspected criminals. The police open-fired on the baby because he was carrying a black pipe that the police thought it was a gun. Neither a pipe nor a gun were recovered from the car.

"I could not believe my eyes when I arrived at the scene.

"He was busy eating a lollipop. I approached him and asked why he killed my son, but he looked at me as if I was crazy," said Ms Aphane, reports the Sowetan newspaper.

There is an apparently a "Shoot to Kill" policy encouraged by the government.

The family of Atlegang Aphane says the policeman showed "no remorse" about the killing, reports the Sowetan newspaper.

The policeman has been charged with murder and remains in custody.

President Jacob Zuma recently said police should get tough to deal with the country's high levels of crime, however he said they should not be "trigger-happy".

The incident comes after a string of deaths of innocent people at the hands of police, raising fears of the reckless use of lethal force reminiscent of the apartheid era.

Politicians warned that the fatal blunders would make foreign visitors fear for their safety during next year's football World Cup in South Africa.

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Amy Judd

at 13:17 on November 10th, 2009

This is terrible, in this instance a little more investigation would have gone a long way.. wow

Rabelani (not verified)

at 06:47 on November 11th, 2009

i am deeply saddened by the recent shootings by trigger happy cops in our country while the motormouth politicians say nothing about the aftermath of what they said. i certainly feel unsafe in my own country as people who were suppose to protect us turned out to be worst criminals......Rabelani.