Tow trucker burglary suspect shot dead

Cape Town - The murder of a tow truck driver has lifted the lid on a suspicious burglary he may have orchestrated at a client’s home just days before he was gunned down.

Aside from tow trucker Thomas Dias, 26, police officers are also under investigation for possibly being complicit in the break-in, which happened in Sunningdale between Parklands and Table View early last Thursday.

CCTV footage is said to show the officers, as well as members of a security company, arriving at the house and leaving while suspects are still thought to be inside.

Dias, better known as Tee-Jay, arrived at the house after towing a car belonging to a client who lived there. She was in police custody on suspicion of drunk driving.

Tee-Jay, of Cape Road Assist, was shot dead on Sunday in Atlantis while he was off duty but in his tow truck. His partner was wounded.

Two people were arrested on Wednesday.

This week, despite several sources saying Dias was involved in the break-in, his father Jeff “Ghost” Dias, speaking via a friend, said his son had simply been at the Sunningdale home to help find his client’s ID book.

Police are investigating a housebreaking.

“Video footage is available, but it does not confirm if the tow truck driver or police members are committing a crime at the scene. This is, however, being investigated,” said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.

The saga began on Thursday a week ago when a woman, 32, crashed on the R27 near Dolphin Beach shortly after midnight. Another motorist was killed in the collision.

Police spokeswoman Constable Noloyiso Rwexana said the woman was arrested and cases of culpable homicide and drunken driving were opened.

Private investigator Sam Farquharson, who was helping the arrested woman, told Weekend Argus Dias arrived at the crash scene.

“Tee-Jay towed her car. Tee-Jay also took her handbag and keys.”

Her house was burgled while she was in custody.

A source who has seen CCTV footage

said a white Toyota was driven into the house’s garage. People then left in an allegedly stolen BMW.

Farquharson said Tee-Jay arrived at the house at 3am in a tow truck, visible on the footage. He was followed by security company officers.

Some left, but others reportedly stayed inside.

The source said police officers arrived and also entered the house.

When they left, suspects were still in the house, said the source.

The home owner, who declined to be named, said his attorneys had advised him not to comment .

Daniel Antill, general manager of Cape Road Assist, said Dias’s involvement in the Sun burglary was “unconfirmed”.

He said Dias had been well liked and neither smoked nor drank.

This week Tee-Jay’s father Jeff Dias, speaking via a friend who asked not to be named, said he was aware of the burglary accusation, but his son’s name had been cleared.

“The housebreaking charge was only lodged days after (he died). It’s sour grapes.”

However a day after the burglary, before Dias was killed, police confirmed they were investigating a burglary.

The friend said Dias had gone to the Sunningdale house along with “two (security company) guards” because his arrested client asked him to fetch her ID book.

But another source said the woman had her ID book with her at the crash scene.

A Dias family friend said Dias’s killing was part of an ongoing tow truck turf war.

Murdered driver ‘was warned’

The long-running tow-truck turf war which has been simmering in Cape Town boiled over prior to the murder of Cape Road Assist driver Thomas Dias last Sunday.

While general manager of Cape Road Assist Daniel Antill said Dias’s murder was “a random act of violence”, several other tow truckers disagreed. They said Dias had been warned not to operate in certain areas. Another source said the murder might have been linked to drugs.

A driver was stabbed at an accident scene in Parow on January 30 during a brawl between employees of rival towing companies.

On January 14 last year, driver Michael Corriera, 40, who worked for Urban Towing, was gunned down in a vehicle parked on Marine Drive.

Towers said said bigger tow-truck companies were trying to edge out smaller ones through intimidation and violence.The bigger firms were said to be vying for contracts with major insurance companies.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus