Ambitious police constable Cállan Andrews was allegedly murdered because senior figures in a notorious Gqeberha gang – the Nice Time Bozzas (NTB) – wanted one of its alleged members “to make reparation” after a rival group robbed one of its drug posts.

Andrews, 30, had been stationed at Gelvandale police station for only a few months when he was gunned down at close range and robbed of his service pistol in gang-ridden Helenvale on 31 December 2024, while pushing a broken-down police vehicle.

Although police minister on special leave Senzo Mchunu said at Andrews’ funeral in January 2025 that the breakdown of the Nissan Hi-Rider Double Cab police vehicle was “purely incidental”, Andrews’ father, Warrant Officer Brett Andrews, blamed the SAPS for his son’s death, according to Algoa FM.

Addressing the media at Andrews’ funeral in Algoa Park, Gqeberha on 11 January 2025, Mchunu said the vehicle had responded to 18 other incidents on the day of the killing “without any incident, without any problem at all”. He said what could have led to the police vehicle breaking down at that time was “baffling”.

The vehicle, according to Mchunu, had not been giving police officers “any problems before”. He noted that the vehicle had gone for the replacement of its battery and starter motor.

However, job cards dating from January 2021 to November 2024 – just a month before Andrews was killed in cold blood – show the vehicle had a history of mechanical faults, News24 reported.

In a video on social media showing Andrews and children from the community pushing the defective marked Nissan Hi-Rider Double Cab police vehicle, a person behind the camera can be heard saying in Afrikaans: “Daai van is moeg, man” (“That van is finished, man”).

Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu sits between father Brett Andrews and mother Jean Serfontein at the funeral service of the late Constable Cállan John Andrews at Ebenezer Church in Algoa Park on 11 January 2025 in Gqeberha. Police Constable Andrews was shot and killed while on duty on 31 December 2024. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Lulama Zenzile)

Meanwhile, details contained in the indictment against Chadwin Visagie, Damian Brooks and another accused – who was arrested while still a minor – lay bare the moments and events leading up to Andrews’ violent death in Kobus Road on New Year’s Eve.

The three men, all allegedly linked to the notorious Nice Time Bozzas (NTB) gang operating in Gelvandale, appeared in the Gqeberha high court on Tuesday, facing a litany of charges, including murder and offences related to organised criminal gang activity.

Gang violence and related criminal activity have long plagued parts of Gqeberha’s northern areas, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa in February to authorise the deployment of members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to the Eastern Cape to support police in combating gang-related crime.

Visagie faces 10 charges, Brooks 11 charges and the third accused nine charges.

The three, who have been behind bars for more than a year, huddled together in the packed accused bench, hunched over in an attempt to conceal their faces from reporters as they appeared without legal representatives.

Chadwin Visagie and Damian Brooks, accused of the December 2024 murder of police constable Cállan Andrews (30), conceal their faces to avoid being photographed as they appear in the high court in Gqeberha on 21 July 2026. A third accused, who was arrested while still a minor, is appearing alongside them. (Photo: Kyran Blaauw)

A robbery at a drug post and then a murder

The State alleges in its indictment that Brooks was “a senior figure” in the gang, while Visagie and the minor were members of the gang – gang members allegedly have NTB tattoos on various parts of their bodies and mark their territory by spray-painting the initialism “N.T.B” on walls and other structures.

According to the State, a drug post allegedly operated by the NTB gang was robbed on the morning of 31 December 2024, resulting in the gang losing part of its drug supply.

Brooks, the State says, was “infuriated when he received the report that the said drug outlet had been robbed”. He then allegedly “required” the minor “to correct the loss, in accordance with gang lore”.

The State further alleges that Brooks wanted the minor to retaliate against members of a rival gang who had allegedly robbed the NTB’s drug post.

On the day the NTB’s alleged drug post was robbed, Andrews and his police partner responded to a domestic violence complaint in Voisen Road, Helenvale.

As they were about to escort the domestic violence complainant to the charge office at Gelvandale police station, their marked police vehicle broke down.

“After several attempts by the driver, it was decided to push-start the vehicle. The deceased got out of the vehicle to do so, as he was the passenger in the vehicle.

“Initially the vehicle was pushed by the deceased, but later young children from the community came to assist him. They pushed the vehicle from Voisen Road into Reynders Street and from there turned into Kobus Road, Helenvale, where that road sloped downwards, passing an area known as ‘The Stoep’,” the State’s indictment reads.

The DA in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro proposed that Kobus Road be renamed after Andrews.

Kobus Road in Gelvandale. Gqeberha, on 10 March 2025. The Democratic Alliance has asked that Kobus Road’s name be changed to honour Constable Cállan Andrews, who was shot and killed in the line of duty on 31 December 2024. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Lulama Zenzile)

When Brooks allegedly saw the broken-down police vehicle being pushed, with Andrews walking alongside it, he instructed the minor to rob the constable of his service pistol “so as to redress or to compensate for or to make reparation for accused 1’s earlier loss of the drugs of the N.T.B gang, which had been robbed from the drug outlet”.

According to the State, Brooks then handed the minor a 9mm firearm.

Acting on Brooks’ alleged instruction, the minor allegedly shot Andrews at close range before stealing his service firearm, which he is accused of handing to Visagie, who ran from the scene to conceal the weapon. The minor also took to his heels.

Andrews, a graduate of Nelson Mandela University, succumbed to his injuries in Livingstone Hospital, where police discovered that his service pistol had been stolen.

Visagie seemingly later confessed to investigators, and on 7 January 2025 pointed out where the service pistol had been concealed at a property in Bocharts Street, more than a kilometre from Kobus Road.

The case against the trio has been postponed to 6 August 2026, allowing them to apply for legal aid. DM