WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-10-04 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[Wasn’t someone else well-known in the gardening fraternity murdered a few weeks back? Jan]
Durban’s acclaimed gardening guru, Arthur Vernon Rippon, hailed by friends as “the salt of the earth”, has been murdered at his home in Moore Road.
There is some confusion over whether Rippon was attacked at his home and then later died or whether his attackers returned to his home to finish him off.
“This is a great, great tragedy for the horticultural world. It is very, very sad,” said Christopher Dalzell, curator of Durban Botanic Gardens.
“He was the doyen of horticulture in Durban and brought so many people into the gardening world. He was an inspiration and gave so much.”
| ‘We are absolutely devastated’ |
The country’s gardening fraternity has been left reeling as details of the murder quickly spread, said Sheila Astill, president of the Durban and Coast Horticultural Society.
“We are absolutely devastated,” she said, adding that he was “Durban’s Mr Gardening”. She said he was “a botanist, ecologist, gardener, landscaper, nurseryman, floral artist, designer, decorator, lecturer, photographer and traveller”.
Police said on Wednesday that Rippon, 77, who lived alone, was found dead in his home with severe head injuries. He had been struck several times with a blunt object.
It was not clear exactly what time he was attacked, but it is known that Rippon spent Tuesday evening having dinner with friends in New Germany. He had an arrangement with the friends to telephone them to confirm he had arrived safely back home, but the usual single ring did not come.
Police believe Rippon was attacked in his house and was hit over the head with a blunt object and that his car was then stolen.
The crime was not reported to police who found Rippon’s Opel Corsa car abandoned in Isipingo.
The vehicle’s registration number established that it belonged to Rippon and concerned officers of the Umbilo Police Station went to his home at 3am on Wednesday.
Councillor George Devenish, Rippon’s next-door neighbour, heard the police and went to investigate. The police had gone into the house and, after realising Rippon had been severely injured, called an ambulance and urged him to go to hospital.
But Rippon, after initially allowing paramedics to enter his house and bandage his arm, then asked them to leave when they asked him to go with them to hospital. Repeated attempts by the police to get him to go to hospital failed.
Devenish walked up the path to the house, but Rippon turned the light off.
“When I told him I had come to help him, he told me to go away. I tried three times.”
Devenish then invited the police into his own home to discuss what to do later returning to his neighbour to plead with him once more. This time there was no reply.
“The behaviour of the police and the paramedics was absolutely exceptional. But if someone refuses medical help, you cannot force them. Perhaps though, he was delirious.”
After the police left, Devenish remained concerned about his neighbour and at 6am began ringing Rippon’s telephone every five minutes. There was no response. He eventually contacted the owner of the Jungle Garden Nursery where Rippon worked at weekends, who in turn contacted a friend of Rippon.
“I realised that this was an absolute emergency and we had to force an entry. Once Rippon’s good friend said he would take responsibility, I contacted the police and told them to return with the necessary equipment,” said Devenish.
At 10.30am, the police forced their way into the house and found Rippon dead in bed.
Devenish believes that the killer or killers hid in the shrubbery around the victim’s home there was no forced entry attacked him, leaving him badly injured, and took his car keys. A post mortem will be carried out on Thursday.
Kay Montgomery, the editor of SA Gardening, said Rippon had been a contributing writer for many years. She will come to Durban for his funeral.
“He was an expert on palms and the father of sub-tropical gardening in Durban.”
Rippon was president of the Durban and Coast Horticultural Society, patron of the Association of Garden Judges and was instrumental in starting the Garden of the Year.
After working in Holland and in the Channel Islands, he headed home to Durban where “he was snapped up at the age of 28 by the Durban Parks department, later gaining his national diploma in horticulture.
He wrote and edited the book Gardening Made Easy and was honorary life member of some 12 gardening clubs. He also wrote for the Daily News.