Mother of four killed, 3-year-old hospitalised — will Westbury gun violence ever end?

The family of a woman killed on Tuesday in Westbury, Johannesburg, believe she could have been caught in gang violence crossfire.

Lesley-Ann Pauls, 33, was shot dead in her home. Her 3-year-old son was wounded and is fighting for his life in hospital. 

A member of the family who spoke on condition of anonymity and on behalf of the Pauls family said they were heartbroken.

They had learnt that armed men broke open the door, allegedly in search of her partner, and started shooting. 

“The suspicion is they were looking for her boyfriend and she was caught in the crossfire and was the victim. 

“It is tough for the family, especially for my mom, my sisters and the four children. The one [who was shot] is still in hospital in a critical condition.”

He said gang violence and shooting affects everyone in the community. 

On Tuesday, a suspected Varados gang leader Leroy “Finch” Brown was shot dead while leaving a gym in Roodepoort. In February, Fast Guns leader Keenan Ebrahim was shot dead while driving in Constantia Kloof. 

Westbury community leader Bishop Dulton Adams previously told TimesLIVE Premium Ebrahim's death could present an opportunity for the community to push gangsterism out.

Pauls' family said they believed the latest suspected assassination could bring calm to the community but it became so bad there might be someone who wanted to take over the reins. 

“My cousin was killed on the same day as this guy and neighbours said the two guys who jumped the wall and were shooting are linked to this alleged drug dealer who was gunned down earlier in the day.” 

Pauls was described as a kind and warm person.

According to Gauteng police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, a case of murder has been opened for investigation.

She said the victims were reportedly attacked in their house in Newclare by unknown suspects. 

“One woman was fatally shot while three more victims, including a 3-year-old, were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. The suspects are alleged to be two unknown coloured men who fled the scene in a white Sentra and black Audi.”

The motive of the shooting is unknown and no-one has been arrested.

Senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime Jenni Irish Qhobosheane said gang violence wasn't only affecting Gauteng and strong links were developing nationally between different gangs. 

They are starting to see gang relations crossing provincial borders with links between the Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

“You start to see there is this sort of cross-relationship developing between different gangs. If you look at what's happening in Westbury, one of the things we see nationally around gangs and it has been happening over a period of time — is you have gang conflicts playing themselves out on the ground. 

“Residents are highly affected but you also have a significant increase over the past few years of targeted hits on some gangs. The national links become important in that what happens is often people contract out those hits and sometimes you have people from other provinces coming in and carrying out those hits and then disappearing back to their provinces,” she said. 

That is happening to some extent in Westbury, as in other places where gangs are well-established, and there will be people who want to step into that space when a gang leader is eliminated, she said.

“Sometimes we see an escalation of violence when leaders of gangs are taken out. But I think Westbury seems to constantly go through these different cycles of violence. I don't think the taking out of these leaders will have any [limiting] affect on the violence levels, but it could increase those levels,” she said 

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