Teen paid man to kill ex-boyfriend's mom

By Alex Eliseev

While her mother and grandmother browsed through Sandton City, 18-year-old Brittany Mitchell sneaked off to meet an assassin at the Mugg and Bean coffee shop.

She sent him an SMS to confirm he was there. He was at a table near the entrance. His SMS reply gave her his table number.

Her alleged plan to pay a hitman R2 000 to kill the woman she blamed for a broken heart was finally coming together.

This is the astounding story revealed by the police on Tuesday.

According to the police, this is what happened immediately after the two met.

Mitchell, who was celebrating her 18th birthday that day, sat down with the man wearing a pair of sunglasses. She double-checked he was there to meet her. He confirmed it.

The teenager handed over R2 000 and a photograph of her ex-boyfriend's mother - the woman she believed caused the break-up and who had a protection order against her.

The man took off his sunglasses. Mitchell didn't know it, but this was the signal for police officer Captain Appel Ernst to make her move.

The "assassin" facing the teenage girl was in fact detective Superintendent Gert Kruger. And she was now under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder.

Mitchell's shock turned to tears, and a man sitting at a nearby table approached to check if everything was fine. Kruger quickly filled him in, putting the money and photograph into evidence bags.

The trap had been filmed by undercover officers seated at tables nearby.

Kruger allowed the youngster to point out her mother.

He approached the unsuspecting woman, saying "We have a problem".

For Ernst, who has 26 years' service, her first undercover operation was a thrill and a success. She said Mitchell kept asking if her arrest would be in the news, apparently terrified of the exposure.

The bizarre plot - which Kruger said equalled something from the crime channels on television - played out last Wednesday.

Mitchell spent two nights behind bars and was released into her parents' custody on R2 000 bail at the Randfontein Magistrate's Court on Friday.

"She has gone back to Pietermaritzburg (her hometown)," Ernst said. "She is busy writing exams."

Mitchell is due back in court on December 1.

The teenager is a matric pupil at a top KwaZulu-Natal private school and allegedly met her 24-year-old boyfriend on the social networking site Facebook last year.

He lives with his family in Melville, Joburg, and it appears his 45-year-old mother was the driving force behind his ending the relationship.

Mitchell apparently harassed the family to the point where they took out a protection order against her.

The boyfriend's family have not been identified, but, according to Kruger, were shocked to hear of the foiled plot.

Reluctant to give away too many details ahead of the pending court case, Kruger explained that Mitchell had made contact with a man working in the "security business" in Randfontein.

It is not clear how she got on to him, but it may have been through an advert. She sent him an SMS with her request, hoping to hire him.

The man notified the police, and Kruger was assigned to investigate.

"At first we thought it was a joke. We were communicating mostly through SMSes," he said.

Kruger and Mitchell spoke once and he felt the teenager was serious.

The Sandton meeting was initiated by Mitchell, because she could catch a lift up to Joburg with her mother.

Kruger said Mitchell was "determined to get the job done". He said a genuine hitman would probably have asked for more money, but the R2 000 she offered showed "how cheap life is".

• This article was originally published on page 7 of The Star on September 30, 2009