Durban - Five men accused of beating to death rugby fan Brett Williams at a Kings Park stadium after-party last week have avoided spending the Easter weekend behind bars and are expected to hand themselves in on Wednesday – 11 days later.
Williams, a former Royal Marine who had been visiting the country, died on the stadium’s outer fields after he was attacked by the group last Saturday.
Williams, who had done tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, was knocked to the ground and strangled until he lost consciousness. When he stumbled to his feet, the group attacked him, punching and kicking him while a group of security guards looked on. He died as a result of severe head trauma.
The Sunday Tribune is in possession of the names of the five men accused of killing the South African-born soldier, four of whom are pictured.
Another man, a close friend of one of the accused who witnessed the fight, is expected to make a statement to police. “I want to set the record straight, I wasn’t involved and I refuse to go down for something that I didn’t do,” said the man, who asked not to be named.
He said that he had received incriminating SMSes from one of the five, which he would be giving to the police.
“They have all been lying low, the one guy didn’t go to work for the whole week and they have been trying to cover their tracks,” he said.
Williams’s alleged attackers have secured a weekend of freedom, with their lawyers bargaining their hand-over which is expected this week. All five attended the same high school in Durban, and among them are two brothers.
One is thought to have worked as a bouncer at Rocca-Bar, one of Durban’s popular night spots.
According to a source close to the investigation, close ties have been established between the gang and a Sharks player, who had attended the same school. The source confirmed that legal representatives of the five men had negotiated for them to hand themselves in this week.
Chris Williams, family spokesman for the dead man, decried the police’s handling of the matter.
“There has been a wave of witnesses coming forward to give statements and they even know who these monsters are, yet they do nothing. I don’t understand why they haven’t put these men behind bars,” he said.
“This act of criminality is a typical South African scenario. A good man is murdered and his killers saunter away.”
He labelled Sharks chief executive Brian van Zyl a lame duck, saying his explanation of events meant nothing.
“That guy (Van Zyl) is a nothing, he should be called to answer for what happened,” Williams said.
Police spokesman Vincent Mdunge said the police were ready to arrest the men and insisted that premature action may jeopardise the investigation.
He denied having purposefully kept the matter quiet and said that the alleged killers were not receiving special treatment.
“A task team has been put together and they have completed their investigation. We don’t want to jump the gun and leave any loopholes in making the arrest,” he said.
He said the arrest of the men was not punitive. “People must get out of the mindset that effecting an arrest is about punishing people. The sole purpose is to secure their attendance in court.”
Private investigator Brad Nathanson confirmed he was investigating the incident and that he had provided strong leads for police.
“Several witnesses have come forward and given us the same names. They were even overheard in Berea Rovers afterwards bragging about having beaten Williams. They were even seen high-fiving one another in celebration,” he said.
Earlier media reports told of a Durban student who was punched, knocked unconscious and kicked in the head by a gang of thugs after the Sharks-Brumbies match the week before Williams’s death. The victim, who did not want to be named, did not believe it was the same group of men who attacked Williams.
Van Zyl has come under fire for trying to stifle media interest in Williams’s death, having managed to keep the matter quiet for nearly three days. He released only scant details of the killing.
The Sharks head also managed to gag ambulance service ER24, who regularly release up-to-the-minute details of emergencies to the media.
It is understood that ER24 is bound by a confidentiality clause in their contract with the Sharks, prohibiting them from alerting the press to incidents at the stadium.
ER24 spokesman Derrick Banks said that they had not covered up Williams’s death and insisted that the matter was “sensitive”. He could only be drawn to confirm that medics had treated Williams.
Fidelity Security chief executive Wahl Bartman denied claims that his guards had failed to intervene. He said eight of his guards had attempted to stop the skirmish.
“One of my guys got concussed and another seriously injured his leg,” he said. “The guys were big and very aggressive. We identified the suspects and gave that information to the police – it’s up to them now,” Bartman said.
Sharks Supporters Club chairman George Laas said he was appalled by the killing and called on Sharks management to act.
He said it had been a black day for Durban rugby and that hooliganism besmirched the good name of the game.
l The names of the five men have been withheld and their faces blurred as they have not yet been arrested.
Sunday Tribune