Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Vincent Cruywagen
Published on 2024-02-22 21:11:10
The trial of those accused of murdering the Anti-Gang Unit’s (AGU’s) Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear is set to resume on Monday, 11 March, as confirmed by Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney on Thursday.
Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear was gunned down in his car on 18 September 2020. Alleged underworld figure Nafiz Modack and former rugby player and debt collector Zane Kilian are the main accused in Kinnear’s assassination, along with 13 other co-accused. Together, they collectively face 124 charges, including murder, attempted murder, corruption, gangsterism, extortion, communication interception, money laundering, and contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).
The state claims that Modack managed the illegal operations of a criminal enterprise known as the Modack Enterprise from December 2017 to January 2021. They further assert that a bank account for Empire Investment was used to conceal Modack’s criminal activities. Detailed allegations include payments made from this account in connection to Kinnear’s murder.
Court documents have revealed that Modack and Kilian are intrinsically linked to Kinnear’s murder, a failed attempt on the life of a lawyer, and the illegal tracking of the cellphones of various individuals, including retired AGU Major General Andre Lincoln, suspected gang bosses, and a City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member. The evidence presented led Judge Mark Sher to conclude that Kilian carried out the electronic tracking of Kinnear at the behest of Modack, indicating that Kinnear’s assassination was planned and executed at the instance of Modack.
Kilian’s bail was denied on several occasions, and his connection with Modack, as well as the seven other co-accused, is further established in their association with an alleged plot to kill Kinnear in November 2019.
Modack is also accused of ordering the murder of 74-year-old Nicolaas Heerschap. The father of a Hawks warrant officer who was investigating Modack at the time.
Sergeant Ashley Tabisher, who worked with Kinnear in the Anti-Gang Unit, now faces charges related to an alleged corrupt relationship with Modack.
The trial is set to resume on Monday, 11 March, and the State has a long list of potential witnesses. If the parties agree, 60 potential witnesses will be removed from the list, and the State will call 30 key witnesses. On Thursday, Judge Henney also voiced his displeasure that Yaaseen Modack had yet to secure legal representation and ordered him to appear at the Legal Aid offices on Friday morning to apply for a lawyer to represent him. If he fails to secure legal representation, his bail may be revoked.
Overall, the resumption of the trial against the 15 accused in the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear is fraught with allegations of corruption, gangsterism, and murder, indicative of the challenges faced by law enforcement and prosecutors in bringing justice to those accused of serious criminal activities.
Read the original article on Daily Maverick
