Businessman Nicolas Brett goes after sheriff for 'damaging art seized over debt'

17 March 2019 - 00:00 By SHAIN GERMANER

A Rivonia businessman has opened a criminal complaint against the sheriff of the court for Sandton South for allegedly causing more than R300,000 in damage to items that were seized as part of an attachment order.
Nicolas Brett has accused sheriff Frede Moeletsi of not only seizing goods that far exceeded the value of his debt, but that after paying his debt, his valuables - including two original paintings by artists Anton Uys and Louis van Heerden - were returned damaged.
Moeletsi has insisted that Brett's criminal case - and a promised civil damages claim against her - is part of a malicious plan to bring her name into disrepute.
Brett has admitted the attachment order was legitimate, with him having owed outstanding salaries to two former staff members at his Rivonia guesthouse. When the business shut down, he said, he had been trying to negotiate how he would pay them, but negotiations broke down.
On February 22, Moeletsi and a deputy arrived at Brett's property with an enforcement of award document that said he owed R34,040 and that she would have access to take his goods by order of the Johannesburg magistrate's court.
The sheriff seized numerous appliances including a cappuccino machine, dishwasher, Smeg convection oven, paintings, cabinets, couches and other furniture, which Brett claimed were worth hundreds of thousands of rands - significantly more than the R34,000 owed.
Over the next two weeks, the pair came to an agreement that Brett would pay R35,000 to the sheriff to cover the debt and that his goods would be returned. However, when they arrived at his home last week, Brett claims that a great number were damaged.
In a list sent to the Sunday Times and to the sheriff's office via his lawyer, he claims he suffered approximately R310,000 in damages.
Of particular note was the long scratch on the Anton Uys painting, which he has argued will be impossible to restore and will ultimately cost him R100,000. Similarly, the "penetration mark" on his Louis van Heerden triptych had also deeply devalued the piece, and he insists on R150,000 in damages.
"These are irreplaceable works from great South African artists," he said. According to Straussart.co.za, a local fine art auction site, smaller works by Van Heerden can fetch more than R50,000, and one of Uys's pieces was sold for almost R80,000 last year.
However, Moeletsi told the Sunday Times she had every right to attach the amount of goods she did, as her deputy had estimated the value of the items.
She said the reason why the office could take so much was that the condition, the loss in value and the age of the objects were taken into account.
Asked how the sheriffs determined the value of items such as paintings or appliances, she said they generally estimated based on how much the item would sell for at auction. She said there was no attempt to have the items valued externally.
Moeletsi also denied the property was damaged while in her care.
"[Brett] came to my offices and he was able to see his property and he was happy and saw there was no damage. Now he says it was damaged, but I am disputing this," she said.
"I have never had a complaint like this. I handle people's property with utmost care. I know it belongs to people, and it's hard-earned property for them."
Capt Granville Meyer, spokesperson for the Sandton police, confirmed there was a criminal case of malicious damage to property relating to Brett's goods...

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