Wife a suspect as ex-cricketer's body exhumed

DURBAN - Results of medical tests on a former South African international cricketer to be released this week will determine whether he died from a rare nerve disorder or was murdered by his wife.

The body of 33-year-old Tertius Bosch was exhumed amid suggestions from his family that he was killed by his wife, Karen-Anne, after he cut her out of his will.

While Mrs Bosch was praised by the nation for nursing her ailing husband before he died in February last year, Mr Bosch's family quickly became suspicious of the circumstances and hired a private investigator, Hennie Els.

Mr Els found that Bosch had added a hitherto unknown codicil to his will disinheriting his 28-year-old wife. Bosch had decided to leave his entire estate to his first son, but in the event Karen-Anne inherited his Durban estate.

During his eight-month investigation Mr Els also found that large sums had been taken from Bosch's bank accounts.

He also highlighted discrepancies between the symptoms associated with Bosch's purported illness - Guillain-Barre syndrome, which kills only about 5 per cent of sufferers - and those presented by the former cricketer.

And he found a letter with Bosch's will saying his wife had "killed my love" with a string of affairs.

Mr Els said: "The strange thing is that, on a Friday, doctors told Tertius he would be able to go home the following week. But on Monday he was dead. People don't generally die from this disease: they get better."

Although no post-mortem examination was originally done, police ordered that Bosch's body be exhumed for tests after they were approached by the investigator.

In a further twist, Mrs Bosch's latest boyfriend, Henry Selzer, has described how his health began to deteriorate in October last year. He had signed over life assurance policies to Mrs Bosch and they had discussed marriage.

The couple recently separated.

Mrs Bosch can no longer be a beneficiary from Mr Selzer's estate, although she describes their relationship as "very close".

Mr Selzer is still suffering tingling sensations in his limbs and is numb down one side of his body symptoms similar to those suffered by Bosch when he first fell ill. Mr Selzer has provided nail, hair, blood and urine samples to police.

"I hope to goodness that the tests prove negative," he said.

"I still love Karen-Anne and I can't rule out that we might get back together again. She is not the evil woman so many people portray her to be."

Mrs Bosch has refused to comment on the case and is disputing the revised version of her dead husband's will. In an interview with You, a South African magazine, she said: "Nobody is perfect anybody can make a mistake. There were certain friendships on my side but Tertius and I were close during the last few months. I know about the letters he wrote but that wasn't his last wish."

A lawyer acting for her said: "She denies any wrongdoing and she looks forward to vindicating her name."

Bosch had just qualified as a dentist when he was selected to play for South Africa. He opened the bowling in the Test match against the West Indies in 1992 that ended South Africa's sporting isolation of the apartheid era.

He toured Australia and played in the 1992 World Cup and two years later married Karen-Anne.

After giving up cricket he qualified as a doctor and launched a successful dental practice near his home in Durban, which he shared with his wife and their sons Cobin, now 7, and Ethan, 3.

- INDEPENDENT