PORT ELIZABETH - VIOLENCE ERUPTS ONCE MORE IN BETHELSDORP AS MAN IS GUNNED DOWN OUTSIDE HOUSE

A suspected gangster was gunned down and two others wounded in what appears to have been a gang-related shooting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday evening.

Graham “Gram” Kammies, 38, was shot dead outside a house in Candlebush Street, Bethelsdorp, at about 5.50pm.

Less than an hour after Kammies’s murder, police found the body of an unknown man with two gunshots to the head lying near an open field in Kivedo Street in Polar Park.

Kammies, believed to be a senior member of the numbers gang in prison and part of the Spotbouer gang, was acquitted in the Port Elizabeth High Court in mid-2019 after being charged for a triple murder.

Kammies — who was on parole — was acquitted of the triple murder and several other charges, after he was arrested with alleged gang kingpin Wendell Petersen in September 2016.

Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu confirmed that Kammies had been on parole after being released from prison in mid-2019 after serving a seven-year jail sentence for a robbery committed in Kimberley.

“At this stage, it is not known what happened,” Naidu said.

Kammies died on the scene and two other men, aged 35 and 38, were shot multiple times and taken to hospital.

Naidu said the motive for the shooting was unclear, however it was believed to be gang-related.

The provincial organised crime investigation unit, which deals with gang investigations, has taken the case.

Kammies was acquitted in the triple murder case after Petersen was arrested with Jermaine Mitchell, Glynn Carelson and Robin Taylor.

During the court proceedings, charges against Morne Nel were withdrawn.

The accused face charges involving a string of crimes including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

The state claims on September 14 2015, three people were shot dead in separate incidents in the Gelvandale and Mount Road policing areas.

At about noon that day, Theodore Matthews was fatally wounded while sitting in a taxi at the corner of Durban and Cottrell roads in Korsten.

Later that afternoon, Rajen Naidoo was gunned down at his work in Burt Drive in Newton Park.

At 6pm that day, Jermaine Essau was shot  dead while standing in his yard in Springbok Street in Gelvandale.

The case will continue in the high court next week.

The murder comes only a month after Kammies’s brother, Damian “Oom Jan” Kammies, 24, and a friend Warren “Wakka” Steyn, 25, were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mohammed “Mielie” Gamieldien Abdullah.

The pair were also found guilty of several other charges linked to the murder.

In his judgment, Port Elizabeth High Court judge Glenn Goosen said: “Despite denials of association with street-gang activities, and in particular the Spotbouer gang, the weight of the evidence establishes beyond doubt that [Damian Kammies] and [Steyn] are indeed active members of the Spotbouer gang.

“Abdullah was forcibly taken from his Gideon Street, Schauderville, house in the early hours of November 19 2016 and killed.”

Naidu said preliminary investigations suggested the two deaths were not linked.

via - HERALDLIVE