The trial of those accused of murdering Anti-Gang Unit Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear outside his Bishop Lavis home in 2020 commenced in the Western Cape Division of the High Court on Monday.
Also read: Charl Kinnear’s widow’s security withdrawn before murder trial starts
A total of 14 people stand accused of having a hand in Kinnear’s murder. The main accused, alleged organised crime boss Nafiz Modack, and co-accused Zane Kilian, did not have legal representation. Another accused is Ashley Tabisher, a former member of the same Anti-Gang Unit for which Kinnear worked.
Kinnear was gunned down shortly after his security detail had been withdrawn. At the time, he was investigating several organised crime matters and colleagues suspected of creating fraudulent firearm licences for criminals. Modack was among those he investigated.
Since then, Kinnear’s family has been under the protection of the South African Police Service (SAPS). However, his widow, Nicolette, told the Daily Maverick that Western Cape police officers informed her that her SAPS security detail was to be withdrawn shortly before the murder trial started. It was subsequently removed on Sunday, one day before the trial commenced.
She lodged a culpable homicide complaint against the SAPS officers who were involved in withdrawing her husband’s security before he was murdered.
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Monday’s court proceedings, which featured a heavy police presence, involved 124 criminal charges, including an indictment against the group that alleges that they participated in ‘illegal activities of an enterprise from approximately December 2017 until January 2021’.
Those who entered a plea pleaded not guilty to being members of the above-mentioned criminal enterprise linked to Modack.
In terms of the broader case surrounding Kinnear’s death, Modack pleaded not guilty to the 2017 killing of a man outside a Cape Town venue. He also asked to be moved from the Helderstroom Correctional Centre in Caledon outside Cape Town to a prison closer to the Western Cape Division of the High Court, as well as for a light in his jail cell so that he could read the indictment against him and his co-accused.
Judge Robert Henney said correctional services staff should look into it.
The trial continues.
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