The so-called “steroid king” Brian Wainstein, who lived in Ireland for years and made around €6.5m profit from his illegal steroid business between 2004 and 2009, was shot dead in South Africa in 2017 while on Interpol’s fugitive list.
Wainstein, a dual Israeli and South African national, had previously lived in Wicklow with his Irish wife Siobhan Hatton, who had no idea of his involvement in criminality.
Ms Hatton only found out he was a criminal when gardai raided a family lunch at her parents’ plush Wicklow home a few years ago and arrested Wainstein.
She split from Wainstein in 2009 but was caught up in his mess when she was arrested in the UK in 2012 as American authorities were seeking her extradition to the US alongside Wainstein so they could both be charged in relation to the steroid business which Ms Hatton knew nothing about.
Siobhan Hatton
Ms Hatton gave an interview to the Sunday World in 2015 as she battled extradition, telling how she thought Wainstein had made his money in property.
“It’s so difficult to try explain what it’s like when you find out you’ve been lied to and have a little girl with this person. I found out I had been living with the devil,” she said.
Ms Hatton spent three months in custody in the UK while awaiting court hearings.
“It was horrible being in prison for something you didn’t even know anything about,” she added.
The courts refused to extradite her to the US and there is no suggestion she was involved in her former partner’s criminality.
Wainstein had returned to South Africa where he was shot five times as he slept beside his new girlfriend and two-year-old child in his home in the wealthy Cape Town suburb of Constantia on August 18, 2017.
At the time of his death, as well as being wanted by US authorities, he was out on bail in South Africa for possession of 12 uncut diamonds and for threatening owners of a sports supplement business, saying he would blow up their store if they didn’t sell his stuff.
Authorities in South Africa said alleged underworld boss Mark Lifman and alleged Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen were the main players in his killing.
The state claims Lifman financed the murder and that he was involved in the illegal steroid business.
A key witness who was involved in the gang, who is known as Mr X, said Lifman felt Wainstein was “getting greedy”.
It is also alleged that Lifman clashed with Wainstein over property deals.
Brian Wainstein was murdered as he slept
Lifman and Booysen were put on trial with multiple co-accused including alleged gang members and an alleged corrupt detective. The group face 36 counts of murder, attempted murder, intimidation, gang activities, firearms possession and organised crime offences.
However, Lifman was shot dead in the city of George in South Africa two weeks ago. The hit took place the day before Lifman and his 13 co-accused were due back in the dock for Wainstein’s murder trial.
Lifman and Booysen were arrested in 2020 alongside 27s gang “general” William ‘Red’ Stevens. Stevens was shot dead in 2021.
The trial has faced numerous delays and has now faces further delay as the state’s key witness, Mr X, was deemed medically unfit to give evidence until December 2 with a court hearing that Lifman’s murder was an “anxiety trigger point”, South African news outlet The Citizen reported.
The judge in the case has indicated he wants to continue with other witnesses giving evidence and the case has been adjourned until Tuesday.
Wainstein previously lived in Ireland from where he ran an illegal global steroid distribution business. Gardai found €15,000 worth of steroids at Croswaithe Park South, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin following a raid in 2003, but he was not prosecuted for the offence for a number of years as he regularly travelled abroad.
He received online orders from around the world for his product, making him a multi-millionaire.
Ms Hatton was working as a make-up artist in Dublin when she met Wainstein in Ireland in 2004.
She had no idea he was an international drug dealer and he had not been prosecuted over the Dublin raid at the time.
He charmed her and presented himself as a businessman with a property empire and after five months they moved in together.
“He seemed like a gentleman. He was driving a nice car, he seemed to have a good business. Everything seemed normal,” she previously told the Sunday World.
Siobhan travelled to Israel with him where he showed her apartments he was building. When she returned from their trip she found out she was pregnant with his child.
“He travelled a lot around that time and I stayed with my mum and dad through my pregnancy,” she said.
The couple married in 2007.
Wainstein was arrested at her parents’ home in 2007. He was sentenced to two years in prison but only had to serve three months after the judge suspended the rest of his sentence.
After his release from prison he left Ireland for Israel.
Siobhan moved to London and broke up with Wainstein in 2009.