Man wanted to kill dad

2003-11-01 07:23

Ziegfried Ekron

Cape Town - Police arrested a Diep River man on Friday after he allegedly tried to hire a killer to murder his father in order for him to sustain his gambling habits.

The 26-year-old man apparently wanted his father dead as he was experiencing financial difficulties.

It is understood he inherited R500 000 from his grandmother, but that he gambled the money away.

The suspect also stood to inherit from his father, who until May this year, held a high position at Old Mutual Trust.

It is believed the suspect asked someone in the underworld to find him a hired killer. He offered R50 000 to have his father killed.

However, this character spilled the beans to police on Friday. A trap was set for the man.

Detectives arranged to meet the suspect and a police officer posed as an assassin.

Nina Kirsten, a police spokesperson, said detectives arranged the meeting on condition the son pay a deposit ahead of the murder.

"He couldn't get much money together and arrived with R300 and his dead mother's jewellery, which he stole from the house (he shared with his father)," she said.

Task force members videoed the whole transaction, and the minute money exchanged hands they arrested the man and charged him with conspiring to commit murder.

The suspect will appear in the Wynberg magistrate's court on Monday.

- Die Burger