Cape Town - Roger Kebble’s former attorney, Kim Warren, said his family was “very traumatised” by the similarities between his suicide and the death of his son Brett.
Ten years ago his millionaire son, Brett Kebble, was killed in a car on a Joburg highway. A decade later, the body of his father was also found in a car, this time on a Cape Town road.
While the two deaths took place over a thousand kilometres away, and 10 years apart, the similarities are uncanny: both Kebbles died in suicides.
Warren said: “His death was a great shock to me, I never expected it.”
The Joburg-based attorney said Roger had not been well since losing his son Brett, and had taken “a lot of strain from that loss”.
“The family is in complete shock, and they are very traumatised by the way they lost their father, which is the same way they lost Brett, it’s hard for them to deal with it,” she said.
Warren added that Roger was a controversial figure but in her view had been a very kind “gentleman”.
Roger’s other son Guy was too distraught to comment on Tuesday night, but had earlier told a radio station that his father had been unwell for some time and that he apparently felt he was becoming a burden. Guy said he did not believe there was any foul play.
On Tuesday night police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said: “This office can confirm that the body of a 76-year-old man was found by the police inside a vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head on the corner of Montery and Upper Bebbinto road in Bishopscourt. An inquest case is under investigation.”
Roger’s body was found slumped over the steering wheel of his silver Mercedes-Benz CL500 in Bishopscourt on Tuesday.
Bizarrely, Brett’s body was also found in a silver Mercedes-Benz.
A passerby had alerted authorities to the grisly discovery and a witness, who asked not to be named, said he initially thought it was a robbery gone wrong.
“I was on my way home and saw a lot of police vans and ambulances and knew something was up. The security (guard) I asked said he shot himself in the heart.”
The witness said he believed this could have been true because there was more blood on Roger’s shirt than anywhere else, and some blood was coming from his ears.
“At first it looked like he could have been sleeping, until you saw the front of the shirt. I was going to just drive past the scene but saw the car was expensive and the licence plate was short.”
He added that this made him linger at the scene and, after speaking to more people gathered at the scene, he could confirm it was Roger Kebble. “The unusual thing is that it is a beautiful, tranquil spot.”
The body was removed just after 6pm.
It emerged during the investigation into Brett Kebble’s death that his murder was in fact a death he had himself arranged.
In 2005, Brett, a mining magnate, was killed in what has been described as a “bizarre assisted suicide plot”.
Brett was killed by bouncers Mikey Schultz, Faizel “Kappie” Smith and Nigel McGurk. They were the State’s prime suspects, but during their trial they maintained that Brett was in financial trouble and they were promised R500 000 each to kill him.
They were given immunity, despite confessing to the 2005 murder, having turned State’s witnesses against Glenn Agliotti, who was later acquitted of the murder.
Brett’s father’s death, however, appears to have come at his own hand. - Additonal reporting by the Cape Times
Cape Argus