It was a hit - family
Nephew says that a lot does not add up
The family of Gavin Watson, the deceased boss of facilities management company Bosasa, believe he could have been a victim of a hit.
Gavin’s nephew, Jared, raised issues with how the scene of the accident at the OR Tambo International Airport was handled, including how the mangled car was moved and how his belongings were dealt with.
Jared said Gavin’s belongings were not secured in an evidence bag and were found in an “abandoned property” where it appears forensic tests, including fingerprints, were not performed on them.
Sunday World has seen a form that one of the Watsons signed to claim his belongings at the OR Tambo police station at about 1pm, a couple of hours after the company’s Toyota Corolla that Watson was driving rammed into a concrete pillar in the early hours of Monday morning.
The form reads that it is “indemnity by person who claims abandoned, lost or unclaimed property taken charge by the police…”
Jared said the belongings – a wallet with R70, shoes, glasses, keys (with house key missing) – should have been treated as evidence and tested for finger prints.
“The glasses were not damaged at all. He was on blood thinners but there was very little blood,” he said.
“All of these objects were just in abandoned property. The scene was not secured to preserve the evidence, which is standard procedure, we are told.”
Jared said that the family felt the car was also “stripped too quickly”.
“We need the photos,” he added, noting that “apparently the resting place of the car should be properly marked and the scene secured so that it is not contaminated”.
Watson died without his phone in his possession, although Jared said his phone had been online on WhatsApp at 4.27am.
The phone was traced to Brickfield Road, Rietfontein in Germiston, at 7.54pm. One hour later, at 8.54pm, the phone was located on Bryanston Drive.
Jared added that by later that evening the Bosasa boss’s phone could not be traced.
“It makes no sense. No vagrant hides out in Germiston all day and then drives to Bryanston Drive at 8pm,” Jared said.
Jared said that the family– which has hired a private investigator – believes that there were “too many things that don’t add up”.
“We cannot say definitively but we believe there was foul play.”
The spokesperson for the police, Brigadier Vish Naidoo, explained that the police were not commenting on the case at this stage.
Watson died a day before he was going to testify at an inquiry into his tax affairs, led by advocate Piet Marais SC.