Johannesburg - An Australian accountant who petrol-bombed the luxury home of Clifton businessman Philip Rhind will apply for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence in the Malmesbury Regional Court on Friday.
Shumsheer Singh Ghumman, 33, was jailed for nine years by the Cape Town Regional Court on May 31 for fraud, incitement to commit murder, attempted murder and malicious damage to property.
Handing down judgment, magistrate Herman Pieters said Ghumman harboured a deep-rooted grudge against Rhind, for interfering in his relationship with Rhind's daughter Hannah.
“This case results from that grudge; Ghumman still has that grudge and there is no guarantee that he will not still have this grudge on his eventual release from prison,” Pieters said.
Hannah, who met Ghumman in the United Kingdom, believed their relationship was merely platonic, and ended it when she realised Ghumman had “romantic ideas”.
When Ghumman persisted, Hannah turned to her father for protection and he warned Ghumman to leave her alone.
Ghumman secretly followed Hannah went she went home to her parents and hired a “hitman” with gangster connections to petrol-bomb the house.
When the “hitman” got cold feet, Ghumman did it himself, hurling three petrol bombs at the house.
The Rhind family survived. The family's car was damaged.
Ghumman also falsely informed senior Cape Town journalists, including Raymond Joseph, that he was a freelance journalist wanting to do a photo-story about gang violence in the Western Cape.
This was how he was introduced to the “hitman”. - Sapa