Kebble+and+Hazel+Crane+murdered+in+same+area



=**Kebble and Hazel Crane murdered in same area**=


 * Gill Gifford**


 * IOL, September 28 2005 at 09:33AM**

Three victims, all ambushed in their luxury cars and shot dead in the same upmarket area, all by unknown hitmen. The latest in the series of seemingly well-planned assassinations is controversial mining magnate Brett Kebble.

His murder on Tuesday night follows that of socialite Hazel Crane in 2003 and Israeli businessman David Peri last year.

All three cases bear the hallmarks of professional hits.

Crane, 56, was murdered on Monday, November 10, 2003 when she was ambushed outside her home in Athol Oaklands, barely 200m from where Kebble was murdered.

The estranged wife of murdered diamond dealer Shai Avissar, Crane was to have been a key witness in an Israeli Mafia trial.

She had been planning to attend a court hearing when she left her luxury home in Abbotsford just after 9am, driving her white Mercedes-Benz E-class and accompanied by a friend.

A white man believed to have been hiding behind a concrete dustbin, jumped out and fired five or six shots at Crane and her companion, whose identity is being protected by the police.

Her car lurched across Athol Oaklands Avenue and came to a stop perched on a grass verge. She had been shot in the head, chest, arm and leg and died in hospital within four hours. Her friend was hit in the hand.

About 6.45pm on Monday, May 3, 2004, Johannesburg businessman David Peri, 45, was shot dead at the intersection of Melville and Third Streets in Hyde Park.

Peri had been driving his top-of-the range Mercedes-Benz at the time.

Peri, director and sole owner of Southmead Trading in Sandton, had stopped at the intersection of Melville and Third Streets in Hyde Park, a short distance from his home in First Street, when he was ambushed.

Police said four men in a green Nissan Sentra had drawn up, opened fire and fled immediately. Peri was left to die behind the wheel.

Johannesburg police Superintendent Chris Wilken confirmed on Wednesday that no arrests had been made in either Crane's or Peri's case.

This article was originally published on page 2 of Cape Argus on September 28, 2005

From: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20050928133102694C303483