A normal day at court descended into chaos after a horrific shooting outside the Booysens Magistrate’s Court left two people dead and three others injured. Southern Courierreportsthat on Tuesday, the newspaper received a call about an active crime scene at the court. “People were shot outside the Booysens court, and somebody has been killed,” the caller said.
At the time,Southern Courierjournalist Shirvaan Pather was attending a court case that was laterlinked to the shooting. The case involves the murder of an 18-year-old at Ballbreakers, a pool hall in Mondeor, on April 5, 2025. The accused, also a minor and facing a murder charge after the victim was fatally stabbed at the pool hall, appeared in court on the day.
Pather recalled the ordeal. “The case was moved from Court 1 to Court 6 as the prosecution and magistrate had been changed in the case. “The murder trial was supposed to begin on Tuesday, but because the case was transferred to Court 6, Magistrate Vele requested that the pre-trial conference be reconvened so the magistrate could be updated on the facts of the case.
Read Full Article on The Witness
[paywall]
The magistrate then postponed the case for a pre-trial conference to be held. “Once the case concluded, I walked out with the mother of the victim, but she went ahead and exited the court before me. Among those leaving the court were the accused and his family.” As he was exiting the court, he heard gunshots outside.
The shots seemed to be far away, but in a short time, a gunman appeared wearing a mask and opened fire in their direction. “The accused’s father, who had left the court before us, had already been shot. I saw the gunmen walk back to shoot him again after he had fallen on the steps in front of the court.
Another gunman fired shots at the accused’s mother, who was two meters in front of me; she was hit in her foot and her leg. “She managed to come back into the court while trying to escape a barrage of gunfire. This all happened within two minutes.”
[/paywall]
