A 47-year-old Pretoria cougar scorned by her 21-year-old Blue Bulls and SA Rugby Sevens lover has been arrested after allegedly contracting two Nigerian assassins to kill him.
The Silverlakes housewife was arrested yesterday in the parking lot of the Atterbury Valuemart McDonald’s by the Hawks and Pretoria organised crime unit detectives.
The arrest came moments after she allegedly paid R10 000 in R100 notes to the two alleged hitmen for the “killing” of Deon Helberg.
The alleged payment was made after the “killers” sent the woman – who will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court soon on charges of conspiracy to commit murder – an SMS photograph of Helberg’s body.
The photograph was taken by police who staged the “killing” at their Silverton headquarters after learning of the planned assassination from Helberg’s uncle, Johan Lourens, two weeks ago.
Lourens was contacted by the men shortly after they were allegedly approached by the woman, who is the mother of one of his ex-girlfriends.
The woman, who is the wife of a prominent Pretoria doctor, is alleged to have hatched her plan four months ago after Helberg allegedly spurned her advances when she apparently tried to rekindle their romance.
Helberg ended their two-year relationship in August last year – apparently after his girlfriend discovered that he was sexually involved with her mother, who is now being detained at Moot Police Station.
Police said yesterday the woman had approached the “hitmen” after Helberg spurned her advances.
“It appears she was furious.
“It is clear that if she could not have him then she did not want anyone else to have him.
“When we received the information we immediately launched an operation to arrest the woman.
“The information we received from the ‘killers’ is that they were allegedly hired to kill Helberg and to make the killing, which was to have occurred in Garsfontein, look like a botched hijacking.
“We learnt through investigations that during the past month the woman allegedly gave the men she had hired R30 000 to buy the weapons, ammunition and other equipment needed to commit the crime,” said a source.
Police said after an exchange of SMSes between the suspect and the “hitmen”, a time, place and date where the killing was to be carried out was decided on.
“We then hatched our own plan to fool the woman into thinking that Helberg had been killed so we could arrest her when she paid the first instalment of the alleged R120 000 murder contract.
“The men who were allegedly hired to carry out the killing have now become State witnesses,” he said.
The woman was taken completely by surprise when she was arrested.
The woman’s alleged motive for the killing was that Helberg had allegedly used her for sex and money, he said.
Johan Lourens said the family were relieved that the woman had been arrested.
“But the arrest does not mean that this saga is over. It is actually just the beginning,” he said.
Meanwhile, Helberg had returned to his family’s home in the North West Province.
He said that Helberg had no idea about the plan until he (Lourens) was approached by the hired men.
“When we heard about what was being planned we were petrified. We could not believe what was happening.
“As far as we know Helberg only had a relationship with his girlfriend and not this woman.
“It is clear that she was imagining that they were in a relationship, which is completely crazy.
“We are very grateful to the police and are extremely impressed by their quick reaction.
“We are now hoping that justice is served and she gets what she deserves,” he said.
Police spokesman Colonel Vish Naidoo confirmed the arrest and said the woman was arrested shortly after she handed over money which she is alleged to have agreed to pay the “killers” for the murder.
Efforts to speak to Helberg were fruitless as his phone was not reachable.
His uncle, Lourens, said he was speaking on behalf of Helberg and his family. - Pretoria News