Taxi shooter remanded in custody for further probing
The Northsider also learnt about another count of attempted murder against Lubbe. Shortly after he had opened fire on the taxi, he allegedly shot at one of the police officers who went after him. Riddled with bullets the taxi plunged onto the shopping centre’s perimeter fence.
Clad in a grey tracksuit and with his hair short enough to expose a tattoo of an assault rifle on the right side of his head, is how the man arrested for shooting a taxi driver in Ruimsig last month appeared in court on Monday, 5 August.
Johannes Lubbe, as he is known to the court, made his second appearance in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court where his case was postponed for further investigation.
Read the initial article here:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/301439/suspect-arrested-after-brazen-shooting-of-a-taxi-driver/
Lubbe was arrested in the Douglasdale area after he had shot at a taxi driver multiple times in what appeared to have been a road-rage incident outside the Ruimsig Boulevard Shopping Centre on Friday, 26 July.
The Northsider also learnt about another count of attempted murder against Lubbe. Shortly after he had opened fire on the taxi, he allegedly shot at one of the police officers who went after him. Riddled with bullets the taxi plunged onto the shopping centre’s perimeter fence.
The State told the Magistrate that the case needed to be adjourned to 26 September for further investigation. Lubbe was remanded in custody until the said date.
Also Read:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/301750/taxi-driver-shooter-kept-in-custody/
Lubbe’s lawyer, Jannie Kruger, did not oppose the ruling and requested that his client be referred for mental observation.
Speaking to the Northsider, Kruger said, “The problem was that I wanted to have him referred for observation to determine whether he is mentally fit to understand the proceedings and stand trial, but it seems that there will be a bed available for him at Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital only in about a year and a half’s time. In the meantime, I’m going to have him assessed by my private doctor and we will take it from there.”
In view of the taxi driver being shot in Ruimsig, there was confusion as to whether the matter would be transferred to the Roodepoort Magistrates’ Court. Kruger, however, clarified that the case will be heard in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court.
This is not the first time that Lubbe has been in trouble with the law involving a firearm. In 2016, he was arrested and went on trial for shooting and killing his father, Andries Johannes Lubbe, at their Poortview residence. The Northsider’s sister publication, the Roodepoort Record reported at the time that he had shot his father seven times following an alleged altercation.
Read more on the 2016 shooting here:
Two neighbourhoods rocked by shootings
Update: Identity of 22-year-old who shot father revealed
Trial of man who allegedly shot his father seven times starts soon
The Northsider has requested comment from the police to try and establish why Lubbe was released from prison following the 2016 murder case.
This is a developing story.
