Johannesburg — FORMER nightclub bouncer Nigel McGurk, involved in the murder of mining businessman Brett Kebble in 2005, told the South Gauteng High Court yesterday, for the first time, how he had a meeting with Glenn Agliotti in 2006 to demand payment for the killing.

However, he failed to explain why he only mentioned this during his testimony yesterday and not in his previous statements. This was Mr McGurk's attempt to link Agliotti to the murder.

When the trial began on Monday, the man who shot Mr Kebble, Michael Schultz, agreed with the defence that Agliotti had not conspired with him to cause the death of Mr Kebble and that he had not been involved in the plan to murder him.

Agliotti has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Kebble, the conspiracy to murder him, the conspiracy to murder four other people and the attempted murder of Allan Gray's chief investment officer Stephen Mildenhall.

Agliotti's advocate Laurence Hodes SC pointed out to Mr McGurk that the two statements that he made in November 2006 and January 2007 did not mention the meeting at a strip club in Sandton where he allegedly demanded the money.

He told Mr McGurk that it was inconceivable he had never mentioned the meeting, which was crucial for him to receive payment . Mr Hodes also said that in his two statements Mr McGurk had detailed how he had received payments totalling R500 000 from Clinton Nassif, the security boss who provided security services for Mr Kebble.

Mr McGurk agreed that in his statements there had been no mention of Agliotti's involvement.

The trial continues.