Lawrence Masinge was shot dead.
PHOTO: Twitter/@gugumjadu
- Almost six months have passed since Lawrence Masinge was shot dead, during an online fitness session.
- His family wants justice for him.
- They have expressed disappointment that no progress has been made in the case.
Nearly six months have passed since fitness trainer Lawrence Masinge, 40, was shot dead during an online fitness session, and the family has not yet seen justice.
On Thursday, Simon Masinge, older brother to Lawrence, expressed his disappointment to News24 that no progress had been made in Masinge’s murder case.
“It seems as if nothing has been done, the investigating officer was never cooperative from [the] onset,” said Simon.
READ | Clients watch in horror as Gauteng fitness coach is murdered during live online training session
On 10 November 2021, Masinge’s clients witnessed the brutal murder of the 40-year-old fitness trainer in his home in Saulsville, Pretoria, around 19:20 while conducting an online fitness class.
News24 reported how some of Masinge’s clients took to social media to confirm the incident, saying he was shot in the head while they watched on their devices.
Though the motive for the shooting was never confirmed, News24 said eyewitness reports pointed out that the incident was part of a robbery.
Simon said:
My brother was a very humble and quiet guy who spent most of his time in his room and solely dedicated himself to building his career as a fitness instructor.
Gauteng police have since launched a manhunt for the suspect behind the shooting, however, Masinge’s family has been left waiting to hear about developments on the case.
“No arrests have been made since my brother was shot.
“Despite all our efforts as a family to push this case, there was no willingness to do the work from the police side,” Simon said.
According to Simon the family provided police with video footage of the incident, as well as informed the police about an iPhone which had been active three days after the passing of Masinge.
“We gave the police a lead when we noticed that the iPhone taken from Masinge’s house was still active.
“We saw the locations change every now and then and we told the police to follow up on it but instead they did not.
“When they did eventually decide to follow through with the live location, my younger brother went with the police to the location the iPhone was in.
“When they arrived there, the police told my brother that they could not search the house because they did not have a search warrant,” said Simon.
Simon said he could not comprehend how they would treat such a legitimate lead so lightly.
“It really got to a point where I questioned whether or not the police knew what they are doing. We gave them so much information, but they failed to follow through with it,” said Simon.
The family tried to follow up with the police for the entire month of November, and then they were hit with another tragedy.
“The next month we lost our mother,” he said.
“I’d like to think she had a lot of stress especially trying to figure out what happened to Lawrence.”
Simon said:
When my mother passed on, I neglected the case for a while because I became so fixated on getting things done with the funeral, I left everything that had to do with the murder of Lawrence in my younger brother’s hands but he too never got an update from the police.
Simon has his own suspicions surrounding the death of his brother and questioned whether Lawrence was attacked or if the plan was to indeed attack Lawrence.
“I mean whilst the family was in mourning, people who claimed to have worked with Lawrence came to the house and asked to continue his fitness business, which I found very weird, I mean why would you want to continue the business after what happened to Lawrence. Aren’t they scared that the same people who murdered him might come back?”
Simon said the only form of closure would be if there was some progress with the case.
“I’m beginning to believe the police have disregarded this case given how quiet they have been for so long.”
According to police spokesperson Colonel Brenda Muridili investigations are continuing and she confirmed that no one has been arrested yet.
“I would like to advise the family to register a formal complaint with regards to their dissatisfaction with the way investigation is being handled.
“This will enable our Inspectorate Component to formally investigate the allegations and give feedback to the family,” said Muridili.
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