Nelson Mandela Bay councillor and family in phone threats ordeal

A Nelson Mandela Bay councillor told yesterday how threatening phone calls and hundreds of messages over the last three weeks had triggered fears for his family’s safety.

Mayoral committee member Dean Biddulph said he had been receiving hundreds of call-back messages from at least four different cellphone numbers.

On four occasions when he phoned back, the same voice would threaten his life and the lives of his wife, Lynne, and three children.

“It has been quite unsettling. At this stage, I am most concerned about my children’s safety. It’s difficult explaining to them what is going on,” Biddulph said.

The harasser, who sounded elderly and only spoke Afrikaans, first told Biddulph he had been paid to kill the councillor, his wife and their children, aged 14, 11 and 7.

In a subsequent phone conversation, the man said he would “get gangsters to hurt” Biddulph and his family.

The man also described the house where Biddulph used to live in some detail and even gave the names of the schools Biddulph’s children attend.

The DA councillor and mayoral committee representative for corporate services is stumped as to what the harassment is about as the man never said why he wanted to hurt the family and never identified himself.