A feuding family has been torn apart in an extraordinary, bitter fight which has led to a Knysna businessman facing a plethora of criminal charges brought against him by his own parents.

In a bad-blood saga involving millions of rands, Bob and Betty Hill and their son Guy are embroiled in an acrimonious battle over allegations of fraud involving their construction company, and which has now escalated into a criminal trial.

A despairing Bob Hill, 71, says that although he and his wife face destitution – describing his son as an “out and out con man” – he still loves him.

But a rankled Guy has vowed never to see his parents again.

Guy is expected to go on trial in the George Regional Court in April on 49 charges of uttering, fraud and theft of millions of rands from his mother’s Knysna-based Hill-Pro Construction company. However, he insists he is not guilty and that his name will be cleared at the end of the trial.

Bob said he and Betty, also 71, had been left deeply in debt by their son.

“We face destitution. Everything we own could be taken away from us. We are up to our necks in debt, all thanks to our dear son Guy,” he said.

The couple live in Johannesburg.

Guy, 46, hit back, saying that Bob’s sole motivation in bringing the charges against him was “purely an exercise of greed and desperation to extort money from me. I’m ready to go to court. I have already pleaded not guilty – all the charges against me are trumped up garbage.”

Guy said Bob had once demanded R500000 in exchange for the withdrawal of the charges, but he had refused to pay. This was denied by Bob, who said the case was being driven by the police and the public prosecutor.

Bob said Betty was still receiving letters from lawyers demanding payment of debts run up in her name, allegedly by her son, but which she knew nothing about.

Guy, however, said Hill-Pro had, in fact, been his company and that his mother had merely been set up as “a figurehead” director because he was an unrehabilitated insolvent.

“She played no role in the business at all. They were quite happy to allow me to carry on until they realised there was money to be made, and now I face 49 criminal charges.”

Most of the cases against Guy date back to 2006. He that said when things came to a head in 2007, he gave his mother R50000 to settle Hill-Pro’s debts, but that she later admitted taking the money for her personal use.

According to the charge sheet, Guy allegedly used falsified documents to get a bond in Hill-Pro’s name to buy a luxury Knysna property, which he later sold for R4.76-million.

He was twice granted bonds by Standard Bank and First National Bank for about R2.6-million, on the strength of allegedly forged documents in which he is accused of signing his mother’s name as well the names of the company’s accountant and auditor.

Another charge states that Guy allegedly stole R1.75-million using a Hill-Pro cheque issued to a company he had set up. Bob said Guy had claimed that Hill-Pro owed the money to the phantom company.

Guy also allegedly forged documents and his mother’s signature to apply for credit from a string of mainly building material companies, or falsely claimed he had been authorised by her to apply for credit.

He is also accused of falsifying company documents, including the minutes of board meetings, to obtain credit.

Almost all of the charges carry an alternate count in which Guy is accused of illegally applying for large amounts of credit and carrying out business transactions without letting it be known that he was an unrehabilitated insolvent.

Bob said that despite the family problems, he still loved his son.

“I loved that boy like there was no end and I put him on a pedestal. I set him up in business because I wanted to help him provide for his family, but this has taken a dreadful toll on our family.”

Guy, however, says he will never reconcile with his parents.

Bob said Guy moved to Knysna in 2005 and managed Hill-Pro Construction on behalf of his mother, but he was under instruction not to enter into any credit agreements.

However, “it later became apparent that Guy had opened accounts with various merchants in the Knysna area and that he had forged his mother’s name as surety”.

“Guy allowed these accounts to fall into arrears and Betty had judgments taken against her, even though she did not know that she had the accounts,” Bob said.

In 2008, Guy was ordered by a Knysna magistrate to cease contact with his parents because he had allegedly threatened and intimidated them in an attempt to force them to withdraw the charges.

Bob yesterday claimed his son regularly travelled overseas and owned a 14-metre yacht in the Caribbean worth around R1.5-million, but Guy denied this.

Bob said they did not want to see their son jailed and hoped he would make restitution to Betty.

Guy said the “family saga” had been going on for some time and that his father was under instruction from the prosecutor to stop discussing the case. “He has harassed everyone in town for the past two years and it’s just extortion.”

In the latest development, Guy last week sacked his legal team and has to appear in court on Wednesday to apply for legal aid.

The move has cast doubt on plans for the trial’s start on April 6.

By Neil Oelofse

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