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The account of a KwaZulu-Natal police team that shot and killed “notorious” taxi boss and tow truck business owner Bevan Loftus during a police operation is “highly improbable” and does not make sense, the Madlanga commission of inquiry heard on Thursday. The commission of inquiry is investigating allegations of criminal infiltration in law enforcement agencies. The commission has heard allegations that the team that shot Loftus was under the command of Capt Deena Govender. It also heard the shooting was part of a contract killing “disguised” as a police operation.Govender is yet to testify on the serious allegations against him and his team before the commission. Allegations against him and members of the law enforcement task team have also yet to be tested in court.Loftus, affiliated with a drug gang in KwaZulu-Natal, was killed on April 1 2023 with four other people ― Ryan Santos, Chase Fynn, Michigan Hippolyte and Sihle Zondi ― during an operation by a task team under Govender’s command. Firearms expert and retired police captain Ashley Houston described the account of the task team that was involved in the operation that led to the death of Loftus and his friends as “improbable”. Especially when considering the state scene, he said. According to the statements of the police officers involved in the operation, 27 rounds were fired in a room, leaving the five dead. The five police officers’ statements read that they entered a flat through the door, which was ajar. A group of men jumped off a couch and moved further into the flat before a shoot-out ensued. Read: ‘The fastest lives the longest’: Bevan Loftus warned competitor in tow truck war“Given the size and configuration of the flat, the corridor, the kitchenette, the lounge and the balcony, I find it highly improbable that the shooting would have happened in a way alleged by the members, at least not without injuring each other,” Houston said.He was the first police officer from the local police station to arrive on the scene minutes after the shooting was reported.“Having refreshed my memory by looking at the photos of the scene, it is observed that most blood spatters were low on the wall and mostly on the floor. Similarly, bullet holes are on the lower level of the wall. To me, this is inconsistent with a shoot-out in self-defence,” Houston said. According to the police officers, when they arrived at the apartment where Loftus was hiding, the police came under fire and fired back, leading to the killing of the five people. “The five deceased, including Bevan, sustained head wounds. Naturally, the bullet holes would have been directed towards the middle to higher level of the wall,” Houston said. “However, in this case, most, if not all the bullet marks were directed at the lower part of the wall, suggesting that the deceased might have been shot while in a lower position.” The Independent Police Investigative Directorate in KwaZulu-Natal is investigating the case as part of a wide extrajudicial killings probe of deaths between April 2023 and May 31 2026 at the hands of three task teams probing the illicit drug industry, cash-in-transit heist industry and taxi industry. Houston was asked about the position of four of the deceased who were lined up in a lounge. Due to the use of the rifles by police officers, Houston said, according to his experience with guns, the bodies would not have been found in those positions on the scene. “If you get shot with a rifle, the body positions would not be like that. A rifle would lift you. There would have been blood spatter all over those walls. So I am saying, in their [police] statements, what I read and what I see, for me it does not speak to each other. They need to explain how this came about,” he said. In a small area, Houston said the firing of more than 20 rounds from rifles was an “overkill”. The formation of the team, which included Capt Pedro Rodrigues, Const Matthew Halford, Yogandram Megan Munsami and Michael Menzi Shabalala (both National Intervention Unit) and Jevon Lee China (Metro Police), has also been a point of scrutiny. Houston said China, being a metro police member, would not have had training to deal with the fatal scene.While Loftus’ father, Gregory, earlier on Thursday disputed allegations his son was a drug dealer, Houston told the commission Bevan Loftus was notorious in the gang-infested area of Wentworth because he was affiliated with the Hollywood drug gang and hung around a drug den in which people were killed. Houston also told the commission that police officers were scared of Bevan Loftus and a case against him had been opened after he had threatened to shoot a police officer. Before Bevan was killed, five of his drivers were killed. Gregory Loftus told the commission that months before his son’s death police officers told him they were looking for Bevan because he was a person of interest in the murder of his friend Marlon Stuart and a man named David, a tow truck driver for Durban South Towing, who were shot and killed near Moses Mabhida Stadium in December 2022. Loftus told the commission his son was best friends with Stuart and knew David as they all grew up in Wentworth, and thus he could not have killed them.Linking Bevan to the murders, his father alleged, was a cover-up by police to kill his son.The commission heard a recording of a call between Bevan Loftus and Clive Naicker in January 2023, three months before Loftus’ death, in which he confronted Naicker about allegedly putting out a R2.5m contract for him to be killed. Loftus can be heard in the call telling Naicker, “The fastest lives the longest, right?” Business Day
