Johannesburg - Lolly Jackson’s alleged killer, George Louca, is in mortal danger – if he returns to South Africa, he will be killed.
This was the ruling of the Cyprus Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday on Louca’s appeal against his extradition.
According to Louca’s lawyer, Loukis Loucaides, he had argued that his client would be assassinated upon his return because of the pertinent information he holds, and that eight other people linked to Jackson and notorious Czech national Radovan Krejcir had been killed.
The court allegedly ruled that South African authorities would not be able to protect Louca, and that the extradition application was an infringement on the alleged hitman’s right to live.
In July, the Supreme Court of Cyprus ruled that Louca be returned to South Africa to face charges for the murder of the strip king. This led to the Department of Justice and the National Prosecuting Authority telling the media they were confident he would be back in local courts within the next few months.
Louca has also bought himself at least another 40 days. According to his lawyer, Loukis Loucaides, the dates for the next stage of court proceedings were to be set this morning for sometime next month.
Loucaides said he would now begin the process of trying to invalidate Justice Minister Jeff Radebe’s application compelling Louca to be extradited.
The extradition proceedings would then come to an end, Loucaides said. However, should the extradition once again be ordered, Loucaides said he would not hesitate to approach the European Court of Human Rights.
The possibility that it could be months, or even years, before the extradition case is resolved has left Jackson’s widow, Demi Jackson, in a state of hopelessness.
“We just want closure. We just want to know what happened that night,” she told The Star on Tuesday.
Demi said she was pained by the fact that Louca had won his appeal, and that he might never come back and tell the truth behind her husband’s death.
The Department of Justice was unable to comment by the time of publication on Tuesday.
Louca was implicated in the death of Jackson, who was shot dead at a house in Edenglen, near OR Tambo International Airport, in May 2010.
Louca fled to Cyprus soon after Jackson’s murder, and returned to his hometown of Limassol.
He told The Star in March last year he was “no killer”. He also said he was wary of being brought back to South Africa and feared for his safety and that of his family.
“Even if they extradite me, I will never open my mouth,” he vowed.
Louca claimed that “important people” would be brought down if he gave the full story of Jackson’s murder.
Several other men linked to South Africa’s underworld have been killed since Jackson’s murder. They include Jackson’s lawyer Ian Jordaan, who was allegedly gunned down in a hit over R1.8 million, as well as Jackson’s protégé, Mark Andrews, shortly thereafter.
German Uwe Gemballa, founder of Gemballa Automobiletechnik, was murdered soon after arriving in South Africa and allegedly had links to Jackson, while Western Cape security expert Cyril Beeka, a known Jackson associate, was killed by unknown gunmen riding on a motorbike.
The Star