Kidnap: 'Gay triangle' emerges

2005-03-02 16:35

Cape Town - A man accused with his former lover of kidnapping a Dutch teenager, on Wednesday named his present lover as his co-perpetrator.

If Marcus Muhlthaler's testimony is true, Michael Brundl's arrest as the second man involved in the kidnapping, was mistaken - as he has repeatedly claimed in the Cape High Court.

Muhlthaler told Judge Dumisane Zondi and two assessors of his drug addiction, and his relationship with a man identified only as Vincent after his break-up with Brundl.

He told the court he had told police Vincent played the main role in the kidnapping, and had even offered to take the police to the man's home.

He said investigators were to have visited him at Pollsmoor Prison in connection with Vincent, but they had not arrived and he had heard nothing further about that aspect of the investigation.

Took boy to warehouse

Asked by defence counsel Janos Mihalik how he had ended up at the beach at Milnerton on the day the teenaged boy was kidnapped, he said Vincent had asked him to get Brundl's car, and then drive to the beach.

Muhlthaler said: "Vincent said a boy would come out of a house on the beach, and we had to pick him up.

"Vincent said we had to take the boy to a warehouse that I rented in Parow, but I did not know the boy or his family.

"On the beach, Vincent got into the car with the boy, and I drove to the warehouse as Vincent had requested.

"Vincent said the boy's father owed him money, and the boy would be released the next day - or as soon as the father had paid what he owed."

Muhlthaler said he regularly bought food for the boy, but he could not recall whether they spoke to each other.

Vincent instructed Muhlthaler to watch over the boy, but the boy made no attempt to escape.

Muhlthaler said: "I left the warehouse many times, and left the boy alone in it, but he did not run away."

Muhlthaler said he never frightened the boy or tried to harm him, and he had expected the youth to return home the day after the kidnapping - which did not happen.

Referring to the day he was arrested, Muhlthaler said: "Vincent told me to phone the father and ask when he would pay the money.

Couldn't memorise money demand

"I wrote the ransom note that was read to the father, because Vincent insisted I said certain things that I could not memorise."

Muhlthaler said he was never told how much the father owed Vincent, but one ransom note mentioned R26 000 and another R50 000.

Muhlthaler said he had easy access to Brundl's car, even although he no longer lived with him, and on the day of the kidnapping he had taken the car without first asking or telling Brundl.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

- SAPA