Cape man wants stalker 'off the streets'
2012-05-16 20:08
Cape Town - Clifton businessman Philip Rhind wants the man who petrol-bombed his luxury home "removed from the streets", the Cape Town Regional Court heard on Wednesday.
Rhind told the court: "Each time I travel on business and leave my wife alone at home, I engage armed guards to protect her night and day."
He testified in proceedings involving British national Shumsheer Singh Ghumman, 33, a chartered accountant, who is to be sentenced on charges of attempted murder, incitement to commit murder, malicious damage and fraud.
The hearing, before Magistrate Herman Pieter, stems from a relationship Ghumman had in the UK with Rhind's daughter, Hannah.
For the daughter, the relationship was platonic, and she ended it when Ghumman tried to turn it into a romantic one. But Ghumman became obsessed with Hannah, so she turned to her father for help.
When the daughter returned to her parental home for protection, Ghumman tracked down their Clifton residence and threw two petrol bombs at it in the early hours, while the family slept.
Ghumman's purpose was to kill the father for interfering in the relationship.
Testifying in aggravation of sentence, the father told the court: "We lived peacefully prior to this incident, but now feel that we are victims under attack."
He said the whole episode was "scary, it really is scary".
He said his family had never felt threatened before, "now we feel threatened all the time".
He added: "All anyone needs to do to find out all about it is to Google my name."
He said his elderly father in the UK was constantly harassed by news reporters looking for Hannah.
Rhind said he had suffered extensive damage to his home, some of which had been covered by insurance.
Senior counsel for the defence, Francois van Zyl, informed Rhind during the proceedings that the Ghumman family had agreed to pay R49 500 compensation as part of the punishment.
The matter continues on Friday.
- SAPA
