The brother of a slain KwaZulu-Natal lodge owner has paid tribute to the police and a private investigator for their work in tracking down his alleged killer before he could skip the country.
“I’ve been very impressed with how thorough the Vryheid police have been and how they investigated this case,” Gary Pedlar, 60, told Sunday Times Daily.
He lost his brother, Palm Tree lodge owner Patrick Pedlar, 57, four months ago when he was shot dead in a bizarre incident when he stopped next to the road in Emanguzi to buy firewood.
A former policeman, Pedlar managed to shoot dead one of his assailants during the scuffle, but the other fled.
On Friday, the police pounced on the killer after a sensitive investigation that could have seen the perp jump the border into Mozambique and ruin the chance of an arrest.
We can at least almost close the book and turn the page. Hopefully, the court does its job and he gets sentenced.
— Gary Pedlar
Police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said that shortly after midday on November 10, Pedlar, a married father of two, had been buying firewood from community members when he was approached by the perpetrators.
“While loading and paying the females for the firewood, he was accosted by two armed suspects and grabbed by the neck, being pointed with handguns to his head.”
A struggled ensued that resulted in Pedlar and one of his assailants being shot.
“As [Pedlar] resisted, an exchange of shots occurred whereby Mr Pedlar was shot twice in his head and one suspect, Mandlenkosi Siyabonga Khumalo, 28, was also shot twice by Mr Pedlar.”
Police said Khumalo died at the scene, and Pedlar died in hospital the next day.
Members of the Vryheid police and provincial organised crime took over the investigation as a manhunt for the escaping suspect was launched.
Mbele said police soon established the identity of the perpetrator and, after four months of investigations, they made a breakthrough on Friday.
“On Friday an intelligence-driven operation was held by the provincial organised crime unit together with Emanguzi detectives, who followed up on information which led to the successful arrest of a 27-year-old suspect.
“He was taken to Emanguzi for processing, and is expected to appear before Emanguzi magistrate’s court on Tuesday facing two counts of murder.”
Speaking from his Johannesburg home on Monday evening, Pedlar’s brother, Gary, said the family was relieved the alleged shooter had been arrested.
“His daughter is up in Joburg, and his son is over in the Philippines. When I phoned them and told them he had been arrested they were quite relieved as well. We can at least almost close the book and turn the page. Hopefully, the court does its job and he gets sentenced.”
Having grown up in Matatiele, in the foothills of the Drakensberg, Gary said his brother took ownership of the lodge four years ago.
He said after his brother’s murder he commissioned private investigator Brad Nathanson to establish the initial facts.
Nathanson said he had known Patrick well, as he had previously investigated a home invasion.
“I got to meet Patrick back in 2017. His wife and him were victims of a home invasion at Palm Tree Lodge. I went up to arrest some suspects for the murder of Marius Deysel in Umhlali, and it turned out to be the same suspects who had robbed Patrick and his wife only one week before I had got to Emanguzi, and I got to recover all of Patrick’s weapons.”
In January 2017, Marius Deysel, the owner of the Maroupi wedding venue in Umhlali, KZN, was killed in a shooting.
Nathanson said he had developed a personal relationship with Pedlar, as they shared the same interests in fighting crime.
“We got close. I don’t do that often with clients. He enjoyed protecting other people. We were very similar.”
Nathanson commended police for the arrest, saying cases in areas such as Emanguzi, situated close to the Mozambican border, were very hard to crack because suspects can easily skip the border while evading arrest.
“If they get into Mozambique it’s a real challenge. Hats off to everyone involved. The cops did an amazing job, and it was a great result all round.”
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