Westbury Shooting Suspect Court Case Postponed for Formal Bail Application

• The man who was arrested for his role in the Westbury shooting appeared before the Westbury Magistrates' Court
• This was after shooting seven teenagers in Wetbury in October and allegedly killing two, with five recovering in hospital
• The case was postponed for the suspect to make a formal bail application after the proceedings were delayed
• Briefly News spoke to Dr Tinyiku Ngoveni, the University of South Africa's chairperson of the School of Criminal Justice, about Westbury's battle with gangsterism

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, covered a range of criminal activities, including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, police investigations, police shootouts, and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

WESTBURY, JOHANNESBURG — The 20-year-old suspect who was arrested for allegedly shooting seven teenagers and killing two appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 31 October 2025.

Read also

Free State farm attack: Man shot dead, wife sexually assaulted and stabbed in home invasion

According to Eyewitness News, the suspect was arrested at a high school in Diepkloof, Johannesburg. He was arrested after writing his matric exam this week. The South African police Service said that it is continuing its search for the remaining suspects.

The case experienced delays during the proceedings as the prosecution could not locate the case docket. The case was postponed for a formal bail application.

What happened in Westbury?

The police reported that the suspect allegedly opened fire at a group of teenagers standing outside a house. Two of them were killed, and the rest were injured. The shooting sparked protests in a community struggling with crime and poor service delivery.

The Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, bemoaned the shooting and conveyed his condolences to the victim's families. He was testifying before the Ad Hoc Committee, which is investigating the alleged infiltration of the criminal justice system. He was asked a question about the shootings, and he said the shootings were not supposed to happen.

Members of the community fumed about what happened and were at odds with the South African Police Service. The community blamed the police for not adequately addressing gang activity in the community. The police, in turn, also blamed the members of the community for not reporting gang-related activities. National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola called on community members to report gang-related activities and be prepared to testify as witnesses.

Read also

Third inmate involved in Pollsmoor prison stabbing dies

Briefly News speaks to expert

Dr Tinyiku Ngoveni, the University of South Africa's chairperson of the School of Criminal Justice, spoke to Briefly News about the gangsterism and violence in Westbury. He commented on the significance of firearms in youth violence in the country.

"The issue of crime in firearms is very high in our country. Remember that we are ranked number one and number five in Africa and globally, respectively, in terms of crime. We need to take note that most of the criminal debt is because of illegal firearms," she said.

Grandmother of victims speaks up

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the grandmother of two of the teenagers who were shot spoke up.

The woman said that the teenagers' lives were under threat, and they received multiple threats to their lives.

Source: Briefly News