Bay club temporarily closes pending probe into fatal stabbing
Owners of La Dee Das in Bethelsdorp say they are co-operating fully with police
A popular Nelson Mandela Bay nightclub, where a man was stabbed and died on his way to hospital at the weekend, has temporarily closed its doors pending a police investigation.
Jeremy Mopp, 38, died in the early hours of Saturday after sustaining multiple stab wounds to the neck and head after an alleged fight with another patron in the restroom of La Dee Das in Bethelsdorp.
Though club owners Andy and Annestachia Russouw believe security at the club was as tight has it could have been, they have agreed to cooperate with the police and close their doors for a thorough investigation to be conducted.
“We would also like to share our condolences with the deceased’s family.
“There are a lot of rumours around about who he was, but at the end of the day he had a family, and our hearts go out to them,” Annestachia said.
On the night of the incident, the club had a packed line-up of performances, headlined by Cape Town-based music group Temple Boys.
According to Annestachia, Mopp, who had previous runins with the law, was among more than 1,000 people at the club.
“We anticipated a big and excited crowd, so we made special arrangements with the Bethelsdorp SA Police Service to have members at the club four weeks in advance, and we brought additional security and paramedics in as well.
“We had 20 bouncers just on the main floor, not to mention doormen and security in the VIP section,” Andy said.
They said the main act started at about 1am, and the crowd was completely fixated on the stage.
About halfway through the act, a bouncer waved Andy over to the men’s toilet where they had just broken up a fight.
“However, in the split seconds that the bouncer turned his back and waved for me to come over, someone had stabbed Mopp.
“It happened so quickly, no-one noticed until he was already bleeding on the floor,” Andy said.
Emergency medical teams on site immediately went to Mopp’s assistance and he was carried out the club.
He was then put into a private vehicle and rushed to Livingstone Hospital, where he was declared dead.
“Because everyone was so fixated on the Temple Boys many people never even realised what had happened.
“People just carried on partying like nothing had happened while Mopp was carried out and taken away,” Annestachia said.
Due to the chaos, the Russouws did not realise that what had just happened made their club a crime scene, and before realising their error, they asked staff to clean up the pool of blood outside the men’s bathroom.
“Only later that morning, when we got the news that Mopp had died, did we realise we should have left everything [as it was] and closed the doors,” Annestachia said.
Since the incident, there has been an outcry from the community, especially on social media, for the club to close down.
Among the people calling for action was community activist Christian Martin.
“I was in contact with the management of Bethelsdorp police station and called on them to close the club down.
“The owners need to account for the security measures they had in place.
“How did the murder weapon find its way into the club?”
Martin also raised concerns over ongoing questions about the age of the establishment’s patrons.
Annestachia dismissed claims that under-aged patrons were allowed in the club and rejected calls for La Dee Das to be shut down, saying it was a legitimate business with more than 40 full-time employees who depended on the club to put food on the table.
Andy said: “We have agreed with the police to close down temporarily while they conduct an investigation into this unfortunate incident. However, should someone want to close us down permanently, we will follow every possible avenue to ensure our doors stay open.
“We run a legitimate business, we have never had incidents like this in the past, and we will ensure we beef up security even more if we [must],”
Yesterday, we reported that Mopp was convicted of the murder of Sarah-Jane Oliphant and Owen Demingo in 2011 and that he was out on parole for the murders.
That is incorrect. Though Mopp has served time in prison for other unrelated cases, it was in fact Shannon Mopp who, along with others, was convicted for Oliphant and Demingo’s murders.
We apologise for any harm caused.