Cape Town - A man accused of rape and his 63-year-old father are behind bars after police uncovered an alleged plot to murder the rape victim days before the suspect’s next court appearance.
The 41-year-old man allegedly targets domestic workers on social media and lures them to his Fairways home where he attacks them.
While out on bail, he allegedly hired a hitman to kill the victim, from Mfuleni, to silence her.
Police said this was done with the help of his father, who allegedly paid the hitman.
Acting Grassy Park Police Station commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Esau, says the plot came to light on Monday when police responded to a complaint involving gangsters in the area.
“Captain Ashley Petersen and Constable Adrian Baron went to an address in Grassy Park where a man claimed he and his family were held at gunpoint by gangsters,” says Esau.
“When questioned, he revealed he was contracted by a man in Fairways to kill the woman ahead of his next court appearance on 4 October.”
The self-confessed hitman told officers he had met the rape suspect at a party and he told him his case “didn’t look good” and he was scared of going to jail.
Police got a fright when the man produced copies of the police case docket, which included the victim’s address, statement and medical reports confirming the rape.
Esau says the suspected rapist was out on R2 000 bail and the hitman admitted he agreed to kill the woman, demanding R2 000 upfront.
He later contacted the suspect and said he needed another R2 000, which was allegedly paid by the man’s father.
Esau explains: “After obtaining a statement from the man in Grassy Park, officers contacted the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit and a conspiracy to commit murder docket was opened.”
The hitman told police he got cold feet and did not carry out the hit as he believed the woman was innocent.
But this angered the suspect, who then allegedly sent members of the Junky Funky Kids gang to the hitman’s house to retrieve the case docket at gunpoint.
Petersen and Baron arrested the rape suspect at his home where they found WhatsApp conversations on his phone from women seeking work.
The man allegedly promises to pay them R1 500 a day and requested pictures of them.
When questioned about the case docket, the suspect told police it had been given to him by his lawyer, says Esau.
After his arrest, the suspect’s father went to Grassy Park SAPS to enquire why he was arrested, but police then nabbed him too.
Both men were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and were set to appear in Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.