Leslie Cilliers

Leslie Cilliers (1965 - 2003)

Brief overview:

Leslie (38), a policeman from the Table View police station in Cape Town, was shot 52 times with an AK47 during a shootout with seven armed robbers on 23rd July 2003.

Leslie and a colleague were on the perpetrators trail after they had robbed the Standard Bank in Atlantis. They managed to stop the robbers in Contermanskloof Road, but Leslie was shot several times in the head and body when the last man got out of the car with the assault rifle. During the shoot out one of the suspects was also allegedly shot dead. The other perpetrators, between the ages of 18 and 25 managed to escape.

Police officers did however manage to recover the stolen money, which was in the region of R70,000.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Street/Suburb
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • Three suspects were arrested, and the trial lasted about three and a half years before they were finally sentenced in 2006 as co-accused. They were given three life sentences for, among other things, murder, attempted murder and possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
  • During the trial, however, the other three suspects escaped from police custody because they were apparently not handcuffed. Two of the men were later re-arrested, but one was never found. The two were tried again and a year or two later the same sentence was imposed on their co-accused.
  • In February 2021 the Department of Correctional Services contacted Leslie's daughter, Roxanne Van Eck, to inform her that one of the accused, Xolani Kumalo, was being considered for parole after 15 years in prison. They asked if she would be willing to meet with him as part of the reconciliation process. Initially Roxanne was reluctant, but realised if she did not agree that Kumalo would be paroled earlier.
  • Roxanne initiated a petition, with 4000 signatures, to prevent Kumalo and his co-accused from being released on parole.
  • "The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, has undertaken that the families of victims will play an important role in parole hearings, and I plan to keep that promise."
  • Roxanne said that she would not have heard of Kumalo's possible parole trial if a former police friend of her father had not informed her. The department apparently could not get hold of Leslie's colleague, who was injured during the shooting incident, and allegedly listed her as "unreachable".
  • Roxanne also appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa to investigate the case and review the legislation around parole applications by serious offenders.

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.is/v5Fu1