JOHANNESBURG businessman Jonty Sandler has pleaded not guilty to a charge of indecent assault in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court. Sandler allegedly sodomized a security guard at the Himeville Arms Hotel near Underberg on September 10 last year. The 21-year-old guard testified on Monday that Sandler arrived at the hotel around midnight and asked to be shown to a room. The guard said he refused Sandler’s invitation for coffee but went into the room after Sandler pleaded with him. Sandler gave him R100 and attempted to hold and kiss him. When the guard refused Sandler’s advances and threw the money back, the businessman offered another R100 and then produced a gun, according to the evidence. “I then stood there shocked and my eyes began tearing,” the guard said. Sandler allegedly held the gun to the guard’s head and forced him onto the bed. Sandler, a multi-millionaire, is a co-founder and former executive director of New Africa Investments Limited (Nail). He left Nail over a rumpus involving share options.