Tangeni Amupadhi
Randburg’s public prosecutor struggled this week to determine whether he could prosecute the managing director of Legacy Merchant Bank, Douglass Fliess, on the bizarre charge of stealing a garden.
Charges relating to the theft of plants and malicious damage to property were laid against Fliess by property agents Gary Bruyns Properties on behalf of their client Johan Steyl.
“He [Fliess] vacated the property without paying rent for the last two months – an amount of R12 000 – and, on his way out, took virtually all the plants in the garden with him, presumably to plant in his own garden in Rosebank,” claimed Johan Steyl. “This was an exceptionally exotic garden with several fully grown tropical trees like Cocus plumosa palms and other tropical varieties that took years to grow to mature plants. It will cost R10 000 to restore it.”
Fliess denied stripping the garden, but has agreed to an out-of-court settlement. He says he spent R1 500 to keep the garden alive at the cluster complex in Fourways, north of Johannesburg, where he was a tenant.
Fliess’s attorney, Harry Philipou, said Steyl’s decision to lay charges was “nothing less than blackmail”. He initially said Steyl used the criminal charges to pressure Fliess into paying the rent owed and that there were no grounds for the theft and damage allegations.
But Philipou telephoned the Mail & Guardian a few minutes later and said an agreement had been reached between Fliess and Steyl and the charges would be withdrawn.
This was before he learned that public prosecutor Sue van Niekerk decided not to prosecute Fliess, arguing that the matter was covered in the lease agreement and should be considered a civil case.
Van Niekerk says the investigating officer, HAJ Kleynhans, stated in the docket that the plants had died.
Steyl confirmed that he dropped the criminal charges after the agents received payment of R12 000 from Fliess. Philipou insists Steyl had made the settlement proposal, but Steyl says it was the attorney who pleaded with him to drop the case and to persuade the M&G not to publish this story.
“If the garden was in a perfect condition I would not have gone about it this way … The lawyer telephoned me and asked to settle the matter amicably,” Steyl said.
Fliess issued a veiled threat to the M&G, saying publication would amount to defamation. “Don’t make a mistake,” he warned.