Deceit in Agliotti trial

2010-07-28 22:03

Johannesburg - The defence in the Glenn Agliotti trial on Wednesday lashed restaurateur Alexis Christopher for omitting vital information about a "clandestine" meeting he arranged from his statement to the prosecution.

Advocate Laurence Hodes SC slammed Christopher for failing to mention that he arranged a "clandestine" meeting with Agliotti's ex-wife Vivian and slain mining magnate Brett Kebble's head of security, Clinton Nassif.

Nassif was fingered by three State witnesses as having arranged the "muscle" to kill Kebble.

Christopher raised his voice, shook his head and waved off Hodes' barrage of questions over his role in the meeting.

During the meeting, arranged by Christopher, Nassif told Vivian Agliotti to give her ex-husband a message - to visit attorney Tamar Fink, so that the accused and Nassif could "dovetail" their versions of the Kebble killing.

This vital bit of information was absent from Christopher's statement.

Dinner

He said he was never asked about it, rather he was asked about having had dinner with Agliotti the night before Kebble died.

Christopher called Agliotti's ex to set up the meeting because she would not have pitched had Nassif invited her due to the "tension" with the accused.

He set up the meeting but was adamant that from that point on, he was merely a casual observer.

But Hodes blatantly told him that he was "lying" and he was fully aware of the contents of the conversation between Vivian Agliotti and Nassif.

This was after Christopher eventually admitted that he did in fact mislead her into thinking she was meeting him and not Nassif.

He said Vivian Agliotti was crying and he had simply tried to calm her down.

Hodes hit back: "Did you calm her down from a distance?"

To which he replied: "I said relax, and to listen to what Clint has to tell her.

"I was trying to calm a woman down that was performing."

Hodes than put it to Christopher that he told her he would call her for Agliotti's response the next day, to which he responded: "I don't remember."

He asked Christopher why his relationship with Agliotti soured after that night and put it to him that it was because Agliotti did not do what was asked of him by Nassif via Vivian Agliotti.

'Boy's night'

Christopher told the court his relationship with Agliotti - whom he met for "boy's night" every Monday - soured because of his involvement in Kebble's death.

His "allegiance" lay with the Kebble's whom he had known since childhood. Hodes then wanted to know if Christopher told the Kebble family about the meeting he facilitated - but again the restaurant owner could not remember.

"You were playing a double role... its so obvious sir... you wanted to be the big shot," Hodes said.

Christopher was the State's fifth witness in the Agliotti trial.

He told the court that during dinner with Agliotti the night before, the accused had received a number of calls from Kebble.

Kebble's calls to Agliotti were between five and 10 minutes apart and he said he also appeared "irritated" at the calls.

After about an hour, and halfway through dinner, Agliotti left to see Kebble.

Later Agliotti, Christopher said, told him that Kebble owed him money and that he left dinner to "sort it out".

- SAPA