George Louca (pictured) will be extradited back to South Africa to stand trial for the murder of Lolly Jackson. – image – www.timeslive.co.za

In May 2010, wealthy businessman Lolly Jackson was found in the home of his friend and business associate with bullet wounds to his back and head. George Louca, aka George Smith, rented the house in which Jackson was found dead. Lolly Jackson was the owner of popular strip club franchise Teazers. He was implicated by Louca in money-laundering and human trafficking syndicates involving millions in South African and foreign currency. After Lolly Jackson died, George Louca headed for his place of birth, Cyprus.

A year after Jackson’s death, Louca spoke to South African journalist Sashni Parker and her colleague, photographer Raymond Preston in an exclusive interview when they went to see him in Cyprus. He regaled them with stories of his shady and illegal rendezvous with the late businessman. Louca told them about how he ended up living in South Africa after visiting the country in 1987. He said: “South Africa is a paradise for me.” Louca had to leave “paradise” when he became the primary suspect in the shooting of Lolly Jackson.

According to eNCA, the justice department issued confirmation that George Louca would be brought back from Cyprus to South Africa so that he can enlighten the courts about the events of 3 May 2010, the night that Jackson was beaten and shot. Louca had previously said that he was willing to speak to the South African authorities but he doubted that he would be treated fairly at his trial.

Louca has always denied the murder allegations. He insists that though he has intimate details of the crime, he is not the killer. He said that knows who killed Jackson but he cannot reveal the killer’s identity because he might also end up dead. Louca told Sashni Parker in the exclusive interview: “If I go under, I will not go down alone; a lot of important people will go down with me. I will pay the consequences, but they will as well.” The police are very interested in the identities of those “important people”.