Failed ‘hit men’ charged with perjury

Two men who admitted their roles in a failed plot to murder a Kloof businessman have been charged with perjury - by the man they fingered as the mastermind.

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Durban - In a dramatic about-turn two men, who in guilty pleas admitted their roles in a failed plot to murder a Kloof businessman, have now been charged with perjury by the man they fingered as the mastermind behind the crime.

Dain Neveling, who lives on the Bluff, was charged and arrested with conspiring to murder his business partner Grant Jones, along with the two alleged hit men, Hendrik Nunez and Jorgen Jorgensen, last year.

Charges against Neveling were withdrawn but were reinstated after Nunez and Jorgensen pleaded guilty in the Durban Regional Court in November, allegedly “spilling the beans” on how Neveling plotted to kill Jones.

In terms of their plea bargains, their 10-year jail sentences were wholly suspended and they were each ordered to compensate Jones - who says the attempt on his life has left him in a wheelchair - by R100 000.

Neveling - due to appear in court again next week - has now laid charges of perjury and obstructing or defeating the ends of justice against the two men.

This was confirmed on Wednesday by his attorney, Jacques Botha, who said the versions of Nunez and Jorgensen “stood alone” as far as the remaining evidence in the docket was concerned and “left much to be desired”.

“The alibi defence raised by Neveling, in respect of the critical averred events of the night of July 2, 2015, in the bail application stands undisputed in the docket. The cellular phone base station information obtained by the State overwhelmingly corroborates the alibi defence and contradicts the versions of Nunez and Jorgensen,” he said.

“The inescapable inference is one of perjury coupled with defeating/obstructing the course of justice. What follows from here is that their plea and sentence agreements should be set aside.”

In their pleas, the two men claimed they were approached by Neveling who said he wanted Jones, his partner in a debt collection business, “roughed up” because he believed he was withholding information from him about a debt book they had bought.

The two men claimed that on July 2 last year, Neveling alerted them that he and Jones were attending a seminar in Drummond and this was the opportunity to attack him and get the debt book.

They said Neveling got into their car and fired the shots at Jones’s car which injured but not kill him. Neveling then pestered them to finish the job.

They were arrested in a sting operation after they unknowingly hired an undercover policeman to do the job.

Two police sources close to the investigation confirmed that a case of perjury had been opened against Nunez and Jorgensen.

The two men had been called in on Wednesday and had made statements. They had not been rearrested, but it was expected they could be.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Shooz Magudulela also confirmed that a case had been opened and said it was still under investigation with no arrests having been made.

The Mercury was unable to contact Nunez or Jorgensen on Wednesday.

The Mercury