'Fake' doctor in murder plot
2003-02-25 08:05
Sharika Regchand
Pietermaritzburg - A Pietermaritzburg doctor, who admitted to faking his way into medical school during a recent court case, has been arrested for allegedly conspiring to kill three of the seven people recently acquitted of assaulting him in October last year.
Dr Ashraf Dawood Mahommed, 38, who works at Grey's Hospital, was supposed to appear in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court on Monday, but was remanded in absentia due to illness. He is under police guard in hospital.
It is alleged that Mahommed conspired with another person to have the owner of Moosa's Discount Warehouse, Noor Mahomed Jooma Moosa, and his two sons Feroz and Zubair killed.
The alleged murder conspiracy follows a trial during which Mohammed claimed he was assaulted by Moosa, his wife and sons and three other people near Manchester Road on October 22 last year.
When Mohammed took the stand he described how he was dragged out of his car by a guard, Feroz and Zubair and then kicked and beaten.
During questioning, Mahommed admitted that he was accepted to study at the University of Natal with fake matric results.
After two years of studying there he enrolled at the University of the Western Cape, also with fabricated results. He again submitted fake results to gain entrance into the University of Witwatersrand.
He was later convicted in the Johannesburg magistrate's court of bursary fraud and misrepresentation and expelled from Wits.
He then went to study in the Dominican Republic where he completed his final year and obtained his medical certificate.
During cross-examination, Mohammed refused to answer any questions and withdrew the assault charges. Magistrate Fred de Beer found Moosa, his wife, their two sons and the three other people not guilty and acquitted them.
His confessions in court resulted in the Health Professions Council of SA opening an investigation.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Henry Budhram said the arrest follows an investigation by detectives attached to the Pietermaritzburg Serious and Violent Crime Unit.
The conspiracy to murder case has been adjourned to next week for a formal bail application.
- The Witness