Durban - A third arrest has taken a Hillcrest mother one step closer to finding justice nearly two years after her son was hammered to death.
Artist Leighton Frank Agg was 42 at the time he was killed, allegedly by people he had hired to work for him.
After months of investigation and with the assistance of a private detective, a third person wanted in connection with his death was arrested in Citrusdal in the Western Cape last week.
Jill Agg said every day without her son was unbearable. He was her best friend and she missed him dearly.
“We are very happy with the arrest. Now Leighton can get justice. Hopefully they (suspects) will be put away for what they did to him.”
Agg said one of the suspects used to be their gardener and they had trusted him.
She said before his death Leighton and his dad, Frank, had started a home renovation business and he had employed the men to assist him in fixing up a house so it could be sold.
“A wonderful man was taken from our family. He would not kill an ant. He was putting food on their table and this is what they did to him,” said Agg.
She said they were forced to get the help of a private detective, because the police had taken too long to crack the case.
Jeff Stoltz, from Cellular Investigations, assisted police with tracking down a second suspect in Lesotho and the third in the Western Cape.
Stoltz said he had been speaking to Leighton’s mom for 20 months hoping to help her.
“I promised Frank and Jill that I would catch him. People say it can't be done but it can be done.”
He felt rewarded when he was able to assist distraught families and put criminals behind bars, said Stoltz.
He said two of the suspects were cousins from Lesotho, while a third appeared to be from Malawi.
Police confirmed that three suspects had been arrested over the death of Leighton Frank Agg who was attacked at his Hillcrest home on September 29, 2020.
Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Lehlohonolo Dave Motlomelo, 23, Robert Chisi, 26, and Thabo Michael Lekwani Lebofa, 27, had been arrested for robbery, kidnapping and murder.
Agg was beaten to death and his body dumped in a dam at New Hanover in Pietermaritzburg. His cellphones and cash were stolen and his vehicle was abandoned in Mkondeni Market Road.
The men will appear in court again next month.
The Independent on Saturday