Search for Maspero’s special surfboard

KYLE Maspero, behind bars awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend’s mother in Clovelly, has sent his foster father on a quest to find his customised surfboard, given to him by a respected Knysna surfer and film- maker just before he died in May 2010.

The board, which apparently went missing while Maspero was still living with his girlfriend and co-accused Phoenix Racing Cloud Theron in her mother’s Clovelly home, was custom-made for the late Ross Taylor by Jeff Bushman, or “Bushy” as he is more commonly known.

Bushman, who lives in Hawaii, is renowned for handcrafting surfboards for some of the world’s best surfing pros, including Pancho Sullivan.

Maspero, a keen surfer, stands accused with his 19- year- old girlfriend of murdering her mother Rosemary Theron in February. The couple’s arrest on September 26 rocked Fish Hoek.

A third accused, Godfrey Scheepers, 20, was released on bail.

The story broke when Scheepers confessed to police that he helped move Theron’s body from a Fish Hoek field near her home to a dune in Baden Powell Drive, months after she had been reported missing in March.

It is alleged that Maspero and Phoenix plotted to kill Theron following an argument. When Theron returned home after the fight, her daughter allegedly hugged her and apologised, then Maspero put a rope around her neck and strangled her.

Now it has emerged that Maspero has asked his foster father, Martin Hatchuel, to search for his missing surfboard, which was a gift from Taylor.

“Ross couldn’t get out of bed by then, and the two of them spent an hour together, talking quietly, and it was the last time Kyle or I saw him alive,” Hatchuel said.

Taylor, who had survived a shark attack, died later of cancer.

But he left Maspero one of his most prized possessions, the 5’11” Jeff Bushman surfboard.

Despite not being able to surf himself as a result of back problems, Hatchuel said in an e- mail response to Weekend Argus’s questions that he used to accompany Maspero to the beach.

“My back had deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t surf. Often when I picked him up from school we’d go to the beach together, though, and I’d sit working on my laptop while he’d surf,” he said.

Hatchuel revealed that while they had managed to trace the whereabouts of the surfboard, they would have to resort to turning to “the law” to get it back.

Maspero and Phoenix will be back in court again on January 23.

janis.kinnear@inl.co.za

PICTURE: DAVID RITCHIE ACCUSED OF MURDER: Kyle Maspero and Phoenix Racing Cloud Theron during an appearance in the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of Rosemary Theron.