The security detail for Nicolette Kinnear, widow of assassinated detective Charl Kinnear, was withdrawn one day before her husband’s murder trial started.
Also read: AfriForum to investigate the murder of Charl Kinnear
Earlier this month, Kinnear told the Daily Maverick that Western Cape officers verbally informed her that a security detail provided by the South African Police Service (SAPS) previously assigned to her was set to be withdrawn.
At the time, she had not received written confirmation, and officers would not discuss the matter publicly, so it was not clear whether the withdrawal was due to an administrative issue or not.
More recently, News24 reported that her bodyguards were withdrawn one day before the trial started.
Kinnear’s husband, Charl, was gunned down outside his Bishop Lavis home in September 2020 amid his investigations into a gun racketeering case involving alleged crime boss Nafiz Modack and eight high-ranking police officers. His murder occurred shortly after his state protection detail was withdrawn.
The trial is set to commence in the Western Cape High Court today.
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According to the Daily Maverick, it is not the first time that Nicolette’s security detail has been withdrawn. In June 2021, she was informed that security from her home was to be withdrawn but later extended after she said that she would deal with the matter via ‘the highest levels of SAPS’.
Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut told the publication that SAPS protection provided to individuals [is] classified and can not be discussed in public. ‘It is on this basis that this office is not in a position to elaborate further on the matter cited in your enquiry.’
In response, Kinnear confronted the SAPS over its inaction to hold the officers who were in charge of her husband’s safety accountable. She lodged a complaint of culpable homicide against the individuals who had a hand in withdrawing his security.
On 19 September 2020, one day after his murder, Police Minister Beki Cele stated that Kinnear had been under threat for some time. ‘He was provided with police protection but that was withdrawn at some point, now I want to know what informed that decision. This family deserves to know whether their father was failed, and if so, heads must roll.’
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