Corporate giants Standard Bank and Old Mutual are locked in a R1-million legal battle in the Grahamstown High Court to determine if a Comga shop owner committed suicide or was murdered.
The case arises from an incident on February 15 1995 when Tim Kirkup (45) of Comga was found dead with a gunshot wound in his chest.
According to court documents before Judge Frank Kroon, Standard Bank claims R537 000 plus interest from the two life policies that Kirkup ceded to the bank as surety. Old Mutual refuses to pay out on the policies because of an exclusion clause that states that policies won’t be paid out in the case of suicide within two-and-a-half years after the policy is undersigned.
Standard Bank argues that Kirkup was murdered and claims the money that was ceded to the bank as surety should be paid to them.
Old Mutual’s first witness, Roslyn Roll, a Christian School principal from Port Alfred, testified that the night before the shooting she arrived at Kirkup’s parents-in-law’s house for a Comga Book Club Valentine’s party.
She got drunk and swam naked in front of some of the guests. When she went to the bathroom, Kirkup cornered her in a room and raped her. Kirkup’s wife, Audrey, came into the room and was under the impression that they were having an affair. They had a fight.
The next day she and her husband, David, laid rape charges with the local police, but later heard that Kirkup had committed suicide.
Inspector Colin Chowles of the East London forensic unit testified that he found Kirkup’s body in his boat shed in a sitting position against a wall with a beer bottle between his legs. There was a wound in his chest and a shotgun about 2m from his body. He was unable to find a shotgun cartridge on the scene or in the shotgun.
Under cross-examination by advocate Ben Ford for Standard Bank, Chowles testified he was not surprised to find the shotgun so far from Kirkup’s body because of the recoil action of a shotgun. He thought that one of the other police officers at the scene might have taken the cartridge. The cartridge was never found.
Ford said the legal onus is on Old Mutual to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Kirkup committed suicide. If the insurer fails to do this, the court will have to order that the money be paid to Standard Bank with interest.
Judgement is expected this week.