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Uncle of 3-year-old boy killed by cop charged with murder

THE uncle of the three-year-old boy who was killed by police on Saturday has been charged with murder.

THE uncle of the three-year-old boy who was killed by police on Saturday has been charged with murder.

The case against the boy's father, Vusi Mchunu, has however been provisionally withdrawn.

The boy's uncle, Peter Monaisa, was yesterday remanded when he appeared in the Wynberg magistrate's court. He is expected to appear in the same court again on November 19 for a bail application.

Mchunu and Monaisa were arrested by Constable SS Malaka, who shot Atlegang Phalane outside his father's home in Klipfontein View Extension 2, Midrand, on Saturday.

Malaka and his colleagues found Atlegang in a car with his uncle, who they believed was a murder suspect they had been tracing.

Malaka allegedly saw Atlegang holding a pipe and mistook it for a gun. He opened fire and Atlegang was hit in the chest and died.

Malaka was arrested for the murder and is expected to appear in the Thembisa magistrate's court on November 18 for a bail application.

Gauteng police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said Monaisa was a suspect in a murder case that Malaka was investigating at the time of the incident.

Senior researcher at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation David Bruce said: "This incident is not a random event but reflects an overall breakdown of control over the use of lethal force within the SAPS.

"It is reasonable to believe that this breakdown is due to a climate of confusion which has been created by statements which have been made over the last year, and particularly in the last couple of months, by senior politicians and police leaders."

Atlegang will be buried in Ratjie Pan, Hammanskraal, on Saturday.

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