Six weeks later, execution of Cape Town couple remains a mystery

Nearly six weeks after a Cape Town couple were murdered in their southern suburbs home‚ police have yet to make arrests.

Nessie Peeva and Angelo Dimov were shot execution-style‚ with bullets to their foreheads‚ in their rented house in Heerengracht Road‚ Bergvliet‚ on February 12. Police bulletins on the investigation have not suggested any progress is being made.

In contrast‚ it took only a week to make an arrest in another high-profile murder in the same area. Gill Packham‚ 57‚ from Constantia‚ was found in her burned-out BMW at Diep River station on February 22‚ and just eight days later her husband Rob made his first court appearance.

The commander of the Cape Town cluster of police stations‚ Major-General Peter Jacobs‚ was present in Wynberg Magistrate’s Court and was seen consoling members of the Packham family and shielding them from the press.

He said he was providing personal oversight “because we don’t really get murders here”.

Public outcry over the murders of cake artist Peeva‚ 47‚ and Dimov‚ 50‚ has been as muffled as the silenced weapon used to kill them. Neighbours told TimesLIVE they were not anxious because this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill murder.

The case bears the hallmarks of a professional hit and it is understood the killers spent some time on the premises before leaving with stolen cellphones and laptops.

The alarm was raised when neither Dimov nor Peeva arrived to collect their six-year-old daughter‚ who was in Grade 1‚ from aftercare. She remains in the care of friends.

Dimov was one of two suspects in a Hawks case in Bellville Commercial Crimes Court. He was charged in connection with an ATM scam that had defrauded hundreds of Zambians‚ whose bank cards were cloned and used in Cape Town.

Sources suggest Dimov was a member of the Bulgarian mafia‚ which operates mostly from Constantia and surrounding suburbs‚ including Bergvliet and Tokai.

The criminal grouping are involved in bank card scams‚ drugs and the smuggling of illicit goods ranging from tobacco to diamonds. Dimov was technologically adept and is believed to have built card-cloning devices.

But it would seem that in Dimov’s final days he was delving into other spheres of underworld activity‚ as police found what is believed to be drugs in one of the outbuildings at the Bergvliet house.

The murder case could point to the inner workings of the Bulgarian syndicate and organised criminal groups connected to them and their network of police beneficiaries. However‚ the Hawks have not attempted to take over the case.

Hawks spokesman Captain Philani Nkwalase said they did not normally investigate murders‚ unless they were political in nature.

“Ordinarily we don’t do murder cases‚ unless there is something really beyond compelling that would necessitate us taking the case upon ourselves‚” he said.