Cop killer gets life: Taxi driver who mowed down traffic officer is jailed
A taxi driver who mercilessly drove over a traffic cop, killing him, has been sentenced to life in the mang.
Nearly two years after his tragic passing, the widow of Deon Sampson, 46, says nothing will bring her husband back.
Taxi driver Luvo Mlandu, 40, was sentenced on Wednesday in the Western Cape High Court after he pleaded guilty to Sampson’s murder.
He admitted to suiping and driving.
He told the court that on the evening of 7 August 2020, he drove his taxi on Spine Road in Khayelitsha when he was stopped at a roadblock.
Sampson moved to the front of the vehicle to assist his colleagues in checking the licence disk and when Mlandu realised he would be arrested, he decided to flee.
He hit Sampson who attempted to hold onto the front of the taxi as it sped away, but lost his grip and was dragged for several metres.
When he got dislodged from under the taxi, the accused drove over him.
The officer from Mamre died on the scene.
Shocked traffic officers and police sprang into action and fired several shots at Mlandu’s tyres, forcing him to stop and he was arrested.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, says Mlandu was sentenced 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.
The sentences will run concurrently and the convict was also banned from owning a gun.
Describing the sentence as “a slap on the wrist”, hartseer widow Lucian says one selfish act took her husband of 18 years away and robbed their three children of a father.
“I calculated that he [Mlandu] will be 65 years old when released from prison and Deon never had that privilege.
“The sentence is a slap on the wrist and no sentence will change our fate.
“Deon was a public servant who was only doing his job and one selfish act, in this case drinking and driving, took my husband away forever,” she tells the Daily Voice.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said: “Mlandu has admitted what he did, but he can never set right the pain and suffering he caused.
“I visited the wife and children of Deon Sampson after his death and Deon’s death ripped the centre out of their world.
“Deon also continues to be missed by his extended family in the Safety and Security Directorate.
“Hopefully this sentence gives his family some closure and a sense of justice.”
monique.duval@inl.co.za