A member of the South African National Defence Force has been arrested for armed robbery, even while he was still being tried for the attempted murder of a female motorcyclist. Corporal Jacob Marakalla (photo above) made headlines in Pretoria last year when he shot Carine van Staden, 28, in the chest at point-blank range after she had pursued him for knocking her over in a hit-and-run accident. In response, he took out his service pistol and shot her on 10 August, seriously wounding her.
In racist, anti-white South Africa, whites are routinely attacked by blacks. Because Marakalla was in uniform when he tried to kill his white victim simply for pointing out to him that he should have stopped after colliding with her motorcycle, it was initially not considered a crime and he was not even arrested. The country’s leftist, mainstream media also ignored the incident, except for a local community newspaper in Pretoria, the Rekord, who published an article on the incident in Afrikaans on 11 August 2017. At the time it was only known that the shooter was black and that he wore an army uniform.
Carine van Staden, 28. Photo supplied.
Mr. Johan van Staden, father of Carine, told the Rekord at the time: “The bullet missed my daughter’s heart by millimetres and she lost a lot of blood.” She spent time in the intensive-care unit of a local hospital and had to have several operations to remove blood from her lungs.
Marakella, who is the VIP protector for General Barney Hlatshwayo of the SANDF, was initially charged with a minor misdemeanour, that of “discharging a firearm in a built-up area”. The fact that he had nearly killed Ms. Van Staden did not even appear on the charge sheet. Only after a public outcry, was he eventually charged with attempted murder, but not arrested as would be the normal procedure upon such a charge. The case then stalled despite further enquiries from the family and the Rekord newspaper, as if Marakalla was being protected by the system. Carine van Staden’s fiancé, Mr. Johan Harmse, had supplied the police with video material from a GoPro camera on his helmet. He was accompanying her when she got shot by Marakalla, who then tried to shoot him as well.
Despite having been charged with attempted murder, Marakalla was neither suspended nor given a disciplinary hearing by the SANDF. Then, on Wednesday 25 April 2018, he was arrested by police for having committed an armed robbery on a store in the Limpopo Province. According to police intelligence information, he was also planning to rob a cash-in-transit vehicle.
General Barney Hlatshwayo is apparently on holiday overseas and was not available for comment as to why his bodyguard was allowed to continue working as usual after being charged with attempted murder.
Marakalla was arrested while driving the high-powered VIP protection BMW used to chauffeur Hlatswayo, complete with military registration plates and blue lights.
Arrest of Jacob Marakella and his accomplice
