The man behind Bad Black's misery

By Gilbert Kidimu
THEY say one fool is born every minute. That’s the description the British, David Greenhalgh’s countrymen, are using to define him. They are in disbelief that anybody, especially a person of his status, can still fall for these scams particularly one by a “peasant” girl from an “uncivilised” country like one Daily Mail reader put it. .

Ugandans too, have no kind words for the mogul, calling him a jackass letting a girl who does not even know proper English swindle $4m (about sh11b) from him. But could other men have fallen into the same trap given the same situation? One Daily Mail reader commented after seeing Black’s photo: “She is a fine specimen of womanhood and I can fully understand why he fell for her and I think most red-blooded men like me would too ...” in apparent support of Greenhalgh.

How the unlikely couple met
So how did a portly 53-year-old British businessman, a married father of two, meet the buxom 25-year-old party-loving girl from Uganda?

He has told the Ugandan media on several occasions that his friend, a Portuguese national, whom he (Greenhalgh), claims is the father of Bad Black’s one-year-old baby, connected Black to him back in 2008. According to Greenhalgh, he was searching for a Ugandan who was trustworthy to deal with in his business of real estate and he got Bad Black.

“She assured me to start up a real estate development business and we formed a company called Davenshan Developments Limited derived from our two names David and Shanita,” he said. “Ever since we opened up that company I have been giving her a lot of money – more than she is talking about.”

At first they were business partners but Greenhalgh later fell in love with Bad Black and that is where their relationship started. He is said to have become obsessed with Black, making repeated trips to see her in Uganda.

What exactly is Greenhalgh’s issue with Bad Black?
When Bad Black was first arrested on October 19, she was charged by the Anti-Corruption Court with embezzling $3,824,130 (about 8.5b) from Davenshan Developments Limited.

Greenhalgh owns 75% while Bad Black owns 25%shares in the company. The company runs an account in Barclays Bank, Garden City, branch. Police said with the signatory powers, Bad Black would withdraw the money, which Greenhalgh sent in instalments between September 2010 and March 2011, and invest it in numerous properties in the city and in powerful suburbs, an allegation that Bad Black’s lawyers refuted.

They insisted that the money was given to her by her wealthy lover, the consideration being the good love she gave in return. A few days later Greenhalgh went to commercial court and asked them to attach 15 prime properties belonging to Black and her boyfriend Meddie Ssentogo, in a move to recover the $4m.

He claimed they bought all these properties and assets using company funds to which he was a majority shareholder. Apparently, the properties were bought with company funds in their names to limit accessibility by the plaintiffs. The properties listed by Greenhalgh include a house in Munyonyo, an acre of land near Anderita beach, a home in Naalya, a 30 decimal piece of land in Munyonyo next to the palace of the Toro king, an acre of land and house at Munyonyo, a plot of land at Makerere and a house in Makindye.

The vehicles with personalised number plates are a Mercedes Benz ML320 bearing Black GAL, a Toyota pickup bearing Meddie 4, a Mercedes Benz C200 bearing MEDDIE 5, and a Ford Explorer bearing MEDDIE 2. The others are a Toyota Harrier (which Bad Black bought her mum), a BMW X6, a Nissan Morano and a Range Rover Sport. He also claimed they had a dollar account at Barclays Bank Garden city branch.

Greenhalgh, the Jilted lover?
But increasingly, Greenhalgh, who on one occasion shocked onlookers when he kissed Bad Black after a court session, has clearly indicated that this is more about love or the inability to get it than the money.

“I did not want to take Bad Black to court but the fact that she was squandering my money with other men annoyed me,” he told the press recently. What did trouble him, and motivated him to call in Police, he said, was when he learned that Bad Black was being unfaithful with a string of young lovers.

“What hurts me is to spend my money with other men. They squander my resources and then abuse me,” Greenhalgh said. He made a reference to a time when he came to town and asked to see Bad Black but she told him she had no time for him — “because she was too busy with this guy Meddie. It hurt me but I controlled myself untill I heard she was buying men for sex with my money. I first gave up on her but still sent her money for upkeep. But later when she attacked me at Speke Hotel with her friends, I decided to take her on.”

Indeed in an earlier interview, Bad Black who claimed to be worth $5m, said that she had broken up with the mzungu whom she claimed was a minister in the UK government. She said he was okay with her dating her boyfriend Meddie Sentongo (he has vehemently denied ever being involved in an intimate relationship with her).

Obviously, Greenhalgh is not and to him this whole thing could end at the snap of his finger if only Black could repent of her crimes. “I will not forgive her unless she promises to stop her infidelity,” he concluded.

Who is David Greenhalgh?
At first some people thought him a pensioner. Black bragged that her source of money was her white boyfriend who was a minister in the UK gov