Sandton tycoon hit by R20m claim from ‘abused’ daughters

Daughters claim R20m from millionaire father who, they say, robbed them of their dignity

HE drove his Ferrari or Porsche and would hop into a helicopter just to go have a milkshake with friends.

But few could have known what went on behind the walls of his Sandton mansion.

Now this wealthy venture capitalist is being sued for R20-million by his daughters, who claim they endured shocking levels of abuse at his hands.

They say he would spit at them, time how quickly they ate, and told one of them she would be a good stripper because she had “nice boobs”.

In an unusual move to obtain justice, the women, now aged 20 and 25, have served papers on their father, whom they claim used his money and power to humiliate them and strip them of their dignity. — Monica Laganparsad

IT is her birthday this week. It should be a happy day, perhaps with balloons or a cake to celebrate.

But for most of her life this young woman has, she says, not had much to be happy about.

Terrorised and physically abused, she was humiliated, degraded and left to feel worthless, allegedly by the man who should have provided her with a loving and nurturing home: her father.

In her early years, it is alleged, he would order her to pull her panties down to her ankles to restrict her movement, then hit her with a wooden spoon or a shoehorn, pulling her up by her hair when she tried to cower away from him.

He caused her to eat in fear, she says, afraid of the consequences when he placed a watch in front of her plate to time her.

Later, she would be called “a worthless whore” in front of her school friends and he would, she says, pretend to “pimp” her to his friends or their sons.

The young woman, aged 25, and her half-sister, 20, are now suing their father, a Sandton businessman, for a total of R20million for the years of abuse and degradation they say they suffered at his hands.

His lawyer, Dominique Kielblock, said on Friday that the man would defend the lawsuit.

In papers filed at the High Court in Johannesburg, the sisters detail how they were allegedly terrorised by this powerful man — on overseas holidays he would confiscate their passports, telling them to find someone else to get them back home. He would force them to travel with large amounts in foreign currency in their bags when flying out of the country, they say.

The 25-year-old, who is not the man’s biological child — her mother married him when the girl was barely a year old — says her stepfather often made her feel inferior to her younger sister, who is his biological daughter.

He labelled her “a useless f**k” who would never amount to anything but a supermarket till clerk, she says.

In their affidavits, the halfsisters say they could not escape the wrath of the man, who disregarded their personal space by forcing them to shower with the bathroom door open and belittled them during puberty. They claim that the years of shameful abuse robbed them of their dignity, crushed their self-esteem and made them feel worthless.

They are each seeking R5million for the pain and suffering they say they endured up until 2012, and R500 000 each for medication, counselling and emotional rehabilitation. They each want an additional R4.5million for loss of earnings.

They claim that the abuse affected their academic performance and “retarded” their development.

The elder sister says her stepfather would often fly into fits of rage. He would force her to swim although she was terrified of water, and monitored her movements with a vehicletracking device without her permission.

She claims that he verbally abused, insulted and broke her down, telling her that her teeth were so crooked, she could eat an apple through a tennis racquet.

He would record her fits of crying as a child, then play the recording to his friends.

He humiliated her by forcing her to clean up her vomit with a toothbrush and a toothpick, later telling her that she deserved to be “beaten and raped” by an abusive boyfriend, she states in her affidavit.

Her younger sister did not appear to have had it any easier, despite her being the man’s biological first-born — he would often tell her that she should have been aborted, she says.

She says her father told her she could be a stripper because she had ‘‘nice boobs”. He also said repeatedly that she was “ugly and stupid” and called her a “whore”, says the young woman, a student.

In their affidavits, the sisters

He told her she was ugly and stupid and called her a ‘whore’

say their mother also suffered abuse and mental torture at the hands of the millionaire businessman. Their parents divorced in 1999 but continued to live together as husband and wife until 2012, when their mother packed her bags.

Lisa Vetten, a researcher in the field of violence against women — who is not involved in the case — said the lawsuit was an unusual move.

She said that sometimes victims of abuse opted for alternative forms of redress.

A criminal case did not always guarantee justice for victims, “whereas suing somebody, you can pay for therapy, so in some ways it can, for some people, be more practical” than getting the perpetrator jailed, said Vetten.