Businessman dies in row with workers

[caption id="attachment_101813" align="alignright" width="350"] Samoo Chetty[/caption]

A PROMINENT Port Elizabeth businessman fell to his death after being stabbed at his Sidwell offices during a confrontation with disgruntled former workers yesterday.

Another employee is in a critical condition in hospital following the attack at the Metro Building and Civil Contractors premises in Relton Street.

The drama played out on the second floor of the building, just metres from the traffic department premises shortly after 3pm.

The body of Metro Building and Civil Contractors owner Soonthra “Samoo” Chetty, 64, was found on the ground floor of the building.

It was still unclear last night whether he had jumped from the second floor landing in an attempt to escape his attackers or if he had been pushed.

He had been stabbed once in the back.

Shocked family friend councillor Isaac Adams described Chetty as down-to-earth and a real gentleman.

He said Chetty’s death had stunned the community. “It is just so sad that something like this could happen.”

Chetty’s business has been involved with lowcost housing projects, including the R2.4-million Zosa Street housing project in Korsten in 2010.

The previous contractors, SJW Civils, withdrew from the project after building contractor Calvyn Ferreira was beaten and stabbed by striking workers.

Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said a man who had been in the secondfloor office when Chetty was attacked had also been stabbed in the chest before being tied up and left in a back storeroom.

“Details remain sketchy as the wounded man is in a critical condition in hospital,” she said.

-Gareth Wilson