Almost three weeks after a Phoenix man was shot and killed, and his cousin critically injured, a 30-year-old suspect was arrested on Wednesday night (February 21).
Wesley Steenkamp, 30, Shaun Sukhlal, 33, and their cousin, of Eastbury, had gone to watch the drag racing in Springfield Park, when they were shot several times on February 3.
Steenkamp, a truck driver, who was shot multiple times including in his chest, died at the scene.
Sukhlal, a sales representative, was shot three times; twice in his left arm and in his pelvic area. Their younger cousin was not injured.
At the time, police said cases of murder and attempted murder were being investigated.
On Thursday, Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala, a provincial police spokesperson, confirmed the man was arrested in Pietermaritzburg and charged with murder and attempted murder.
“He will appear in court soon,” said Gwala.
The man was arrested by members of Sydenham police.
Eva Munsamy said her son, Shaun, and Steenkamp, her brother’s son, would finally get justice.
“As a mother, having received this news, it is a bitter-sweet feeling. I am happy that there has been an arrest, but it will not bring my nephew, who was more my child, back to us. But justice must now be served," she said.
At the time, Munsamy told the POST that according to bystanders, who she spoke to when she arrived at the scene, there was a group of boys at the fuel station, and when the cousins drove in, one of them from that group had uttered some words at them.
“My son jumped out and asked him what he said. That is when that guy began swearing at him... Wesley and my other nephew, who was still in the car, jumped out and ran towards Shaun...
"Wesley fell into my other nephew’s arms and Shaun collapsed a few metres from them. When I arrived, my child was lying in a pool of his blood. In the hospital, we were informed that one of the bullets was lodged behind his gallbladder and he would need to undergo surgery,” she said.