/ 1 February 2006

Cops won’t comment on ‘arrest’ in Kebble case

Police refused to confirm whether a man was wrongfully arrested in Johannesburg on Wednesday for the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

”It’s an ongoing investigation and we are not prepared to comment on any aspect of the case,” said national police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer.

She would also not confirm a radio report that police swooped on a flat in Birdhaven in northern Johannesburg early on Wednesday, looking for a man identified as the hitman in the murder case.

Talk Radio 702 reported the man was released after police realised they had the wrong man.

The 28-year-old man, who works in the advertising industry, was told by police that someone had signed an affidavit implicating him in the Kebble murder.

The man’s girlfriend told 702 they were awoken at 4am when about six heavily armed men, who looked as if they were part of a Swat team, burst into their flat.

The 22-year-old woman said they accused her boyfriend of being Kebble’s killer and claimed he had pictures of the murder scene.

She said she had overheard police officials in the passage say in Afrikaans that they had the wrong person.

She said she had also heard them say they had raided another house a few hours earlier in connection with the murder.

Kebble was gunned down in Melrose, Johannesburg, in September last year. – Sapa