Slambert welcomes sentencing of mastermind behind hit
The Umzinyathi District Police Commissioner has welcomed the sentencing of a former detective for trying to assassinate her.
Major General Francis Slambert was at the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, whereformer officer Roshanel Banawo was slapped with a 10-year sentence.
Banawo made at least three attempts to assassinate Slambert before his arrest in 2023.
In the final attempt, he hired two men, offering them R50,000 to carry out a hit.
Banawo was dismissed from the police service in 2021, after an internal probe revealed he was running a criminal cartel.
Drugs were also found at his home.
During the trial, the court heard that Banawo, who had served for 39 years before being fired, had both personal and work-related motives.
Slambert had been investigating a drug syndicate in northern KZN when Banawo unsuccessfully tried to convince her to join the cartel.
She hopes the ruling will send a strong message.
" Nothing and no one will deter us from doing what the constitution has mandated us to do. I'm going back with the good spirit to my district.
"The community of Dundee and Glenco will realise today that the curse that they've been living with for more than 20 years has been cut today."
The two men Banawo hired, who later turned state witnesses, were not prosecuted.
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