Angella Johnson
A British woman’s five-year quest to discover who killed her fiance moved a step forward this week when one of two South African men being sought in connection with his kidnapping and murder was arrested in Johannesburg.
Tarn Phillips, a 40-year-old London accountant, said she was delighted that William Chait (featured recently in the Mail & Guardian’s list of South Africa’s 10 most wanted men) had been captured in the northern suburbs and could now face extradition to stand trial in Britain.
Luck finally ran out for fugitive Chait on Monday night when he was arrested by detectives in Witkoppen Road while driving his white Isuzu bakkie. Two weeks ago he managed to give officers from Brixton Murder and Robbery unit the slip when they went to arrest him at his home outside Pretoria.
He and fellow South African Neville van der Merwe are alleged to have been hired by a prominent local businessman to kill Simon Law, a 35-year-old British chartered accountant.
Phillips, who had lived with Law for 16 years, said she remains angry that it has taken the South African police so long to track down Chait and his alleged accomplice, who is still on the run.
“They have known for some time that these were the men believed to have been responsible for Simon’s death and where to pick them up. Now it seems that one has disappeared, which reduces our chances of conviction,” she complained.
The arrest is however a boost for Phillips, who described herself as “tough and single-minded”, after years of battling with various British legal and government departments to keep the case open.
It was on April 23 1991 that Law disappeared from his secluded R2,4-million Kent home early one morning, wearing only a dressing gown. He was never seen again and his body has never been found, though he has been legally declared dead.
Law, who won a double first in mathematics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was a sought-after financial expert skilled at hiding money in complicated business webs. He was also a gifted violinist and pianist, playing in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra.
After doing his articles with Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte, he joined International Container Ltd (ICL) as financial director and was speedily promoted before leaving the company to work for himself from his Kent home.
It was through his work at ICL that he met a British-born South African-based businessman who ran another container company. The two went into business together, although just before his disappearance Law and his partners had been attempting to sever all links with him.
The businessman, who was facing serious financial problems, was under investigation by the South African police in connection with foreign currency dealings. Phillips claims he also refused to pay about R600 000 in fees owed to Law.
In October 1990 Law had been interviewed at London’s Cumberland Hotel by Mike Saayman, then head of the commercial crime unit of the South African police, and Nico Alant an investigator from the Reserve Bank. Saayman said Law was “just a witness” in the case.
A week before Law’s disappearance some six months later, two South Africans arrived in Britain and lodged with a couple in Farnham, Surrey. They said they had come on business and after three days asked to borrow the couple’s car.
At one end of Law’s 250m drive in the village of Elmsted, near Ashford, Kent, is a bungalow. At 7.50am on the morning of his disappearance the woman who lives there was asked by two men in a red Vauxhall Astra where Law’s house was. The neighbour thought their inquiry unusual enough to jot down a description of the car and its registration number.
But Law’s disappearance was only noted when Phillips became concerned that he had not phoned her as was his usual practice. She lived in the couple’s town flat in Blackheath, south London, during the week.
When he did not arrive there as expected on Wednesday she went to the Kent house. Phillips found the front door unlocked and the radio on. There was water in the bath and Law’s clothes were on the floor, but there was no sign of him or his grey dressing gown. Police searched the eight acres of grounds using sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance, without success.
“At first I waited for the ransom note demanding either money or documents,” said Phillips. “It did not occur to me that the man with whom I had planned to spend the rest of my life had been taken from me forever.”
Thanks to the conscientious neighbour, the Astra car was traced back to Farnham. A small patch of blood was found on the floor. Samples of blood from Law’s parents confirmed that it was his.
Police inquiries, under Detective Chief Inspector George Rogers of Kent police, suggested that the two South Africans had already left the country by the time they knew of the disappearance — effectively a 50-hour start on the police.
It appears that they flew back to their homes in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Only then did Phillips accept that Law was dead. “It was devastating,” she said.
“We had met at University and gone through all the hard stages of building our lives, to the point where we could share the benefits together. I felt as if the bottom had dropped out of my world.”
One of the things that kept her going was the hope that she would one day be able to see his killers convicted. She has been told by police that the man she believes may have ordered the hit will probably never stand trial, due to lack of evidence.
Law’s disappearance had been foreshadowed by his remarks to neighbours that he feared someone from South Africa would come looking for him. According to Phillips he was concerned about the South African business. “They had an arrangement whereby Simon would set up off-shore trusts so that he would not have to pay South African taxes on his freight business earnings.
“It was not illegal, but Simon became aware that this man was prepared to act [in a way that was] against the law. He wanted out, but was being thwarted because of money owed to him.”
The police say there is no evidence to link the businessman with the disappearance. Fraud charges made against him by the Reserve Bank in Pretoria were later dropped.