Taxi Driver Sentenced For Murder Of Traffic Officer

Cape Town: Taxi driver Luvo Mlandu, has been sentenced to an effective 25 years imprisonment after he confessed to the murder of traffic officer Deon Dennis Sampson, attempted murder of traffic officers Sandiso Mbongela and Arthur Releli and the contravention of the National Road Traffic Act. Mlandu entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the State, and the High Court of South Africa: Western Cape Division sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment for murder, five years imprisonment for each count of attempted murder and three years imprisonment for each count of the contravention of the National Road Traffic Act.

This brought his sentence to 41 years imprisonment in total, but the court ordered that all the sentences run concurrently with the sentence imposed for the murder charge. He was further declared unfit to possess a firearm. During sentencing, the 40-year-old accused confessed that he drank alcohol and drove his taxi on Spine Road, Khayelitsha, on the evening of 7 August 2020. He was stopped at a roadblock manned by traffic officers and police. 

The (deceased or accused) moved to the front of the vehicle to assist traffic officers in checking the license disk. Realising that he would be arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, he decided to flee the scene. Various traffic officers shouted and tried to stop the taxi, instead he accelerated at high speed. He hit the deceased, who attempted to hold onto the front of the taxi as it sped away, lost his grip, was dragged by the taxi for several metres, got dislodged from under the taxi, the accused drover over him and died on the scene.

The traffic officers and police fired several shots at his tyres which forced his taxi to stop and he was arrested. Senior State Advocate Esna Erasmus, told the court that the accused was a danger to other road users. She indicated that Sampson’s death has had a devastating impact on fellow traffic officers, especially those who witnessed the incident and his family who are still mourning his death. She further confirmed that the accused had a similar offence in 2015, and was convicted of culpable homicide and driving under influence of alcohol. He received a suspended sentence for that crime.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomes this sentence, as hundreds of traffic officers put their lives at risk daily in order to make our roads safer.

 Note: The NPA’s media statements are available on the website: www.npa.gov.za

Issued by:

Eric Ntabazalila

National Prosecuting Authority

Regional Communications Manager

Western Cape

Tel: (021) 487 7308Mobile: 073 062 1222

Email: entabazalila@npa.gov.za