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Polokwane- Limpopo businesswoman Mahejeen Patel, who was shot dead in September, warned her relatives that her son would kill her, the Polokwane Magistrate's Court heard on Thursday. The chilling revelations emerged during her son Rameez Patel's bail application.
Investigating officer, Sergeant Johannes Chokwe, testified that Mahejeen had told at least two people that if she died an unnatural death, it would be her businessman son.
"The deceased knew that the applicant [Patel] wanted to kill her,” Chokwe said in response to Patel’s lawyer, Tumi Mokoena, during cross-examination.
READ: Patel's girlfriend knew he planned to kill his mother, court hears
The court also heard that she had been on the verge of transferring her wealth into a trust account when she was killed.
"She was planning to transfer her millions into a trust account so that the applicant cannot have access [to] or benefit from her wealth,” said Chokwe.
Mahejeen was killed in her house in the Nirvana suburb, less than five minutes after Patel left the house.
Patel, 32, is hoping to be released on bail again. He is currently on trial in the Limpopo High Court for allegedly killing his wife Fatima Patel.
She was shot and killed at the couple's apartment in Nirvana.
He was out on R250 000 bail when he was arrested for his mother’s death.
Business
The Patel family, from India, came to South Africa 20 years ago and started a wholesale empire in Thohoyandou. However, they struggled to expand into other areas as some businesses had already closed.
Firoz Patel, his father and the founder of the empire, was also shot and killed in 2016.
The court heard that after Firoz's assassination, mistrust and war brewed between Rameez, his younger brother and late mother.
At the centre of the war was said to be more than five wholesale shops and a power struggle over the family's wealth.
According to police, Mahejeen had confronted her son after R1 million was transferred into his personal account.
Meanwhile, another court battle loomed between Patel and Fatima’s parents, who secured an interim court order to take over custodianship of the couple's three children.
He has been ordered to present reasons why the children should not be under the care of her parents.
The bail application would resume on Tuesday.
