Lawyers accused of hiring hit man

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File photo

Published Jul 30, 2015

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Durban - Two lawyers are among seven people who made a brief first appearance in the Durban High Court on Wednesday charged with murder for allegedly hiring a hit man to kill a money-lender to whom they owed money.

Advocate Veronica Rathilal, 45, of Mount Edgecombe, attorney Jayshree Baijnath, 40, of Malvern and businesswoman Shana Mangroo, 45, of Phoenix are alleged to have owed Narend Anandrai more then R1 million, some of it from gambling debts.

According to the indictment, they and policeman Claude Reginald, 45, of Phoenix and businessmen Trevor Chetty, 44, of the Bluff, Dhanaseelan Manickam, 43, of Chatsworth, and Sudesh Ghooruhoo, 34, of Malvern, conspired to murder Anandrai in March last year by hiring Gregory Pillay to commit the crime.

They are all out on bail.

Anandrai was lured to Manickam’s house and was shot dead in his vehicle while he was waiting to be let in. The car then burst into flames after veering into a wall.

The crime was initially thought to be a botched hijacking, but in August last year Pillay - a self-confessed drug addict - pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

He claimed to have been hired by a syndicate who owed Anandrai money.

While he named some of those involved, Durban regional court magistrate Trevor Levitt, who was hearing his plea, ordered that their names be withheld for the time being.

According to newspaper reports, Pillay told the court he had been driven by two people to the Chatsworth address, where a black Mercedes was parked outside.

One had given him a gun and told him: “Laaitie bru, the pipe is ready, go do your thing.”

He said he understood this to mean that he had to shoot the driver.

He had fired three shots at the front window, and then the firearm jammed. After the car jerked forward and struck the side wall, he ran back to the getaway car.

While he was paid R20 000 in two instalments a few days later, he was never paid the R100 000 he was promised for the job being done on the same day.

Five of the seven accused now before court handed themselves over to police within days of Pillay’s confession, and at their first court appearance they said they would all plead not guilty.

A co-accused at that time, Logandren Frances, is now listed as a State witness, as is Pillay.

Ghooruhoo handed himself over to police and made his first court appearance in April.

 

Among those listed as witnesses are employees of a cellphone company, a bank and a casino.

The case was adjourned by Acting Judge Burt Laing until August 19 for the accused to liaise with their legal representatives.

A trial date is expected to be set then.

The Mercury

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