Zane Kilian’s lawyer, Eric Bryer, said this on Monday 30 November shortly after his client’s brief appearance in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court in connection with the attempted murder of criminal lawyer William Booth. Kilian was joined in the dock by co-accused Kauthar Brown, Ebrahim Deare, Riyaad Gesant, Kim Kashiefa Smith and Igsaan Williams. They are facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder emanating from a failed attempt on Booth’s life in April 2020.

Kilian faces additional charges which include a gang-related charge, unlawful interception of communication and access or interception of any data relating to the “pinging” of Booth’s phone. An opposing affidavit deposed by the investigating officer indicates that Kilian had pinged Booth’s cellphone 658 times from 6 March 2020 until 18 September 2020 — the day of Kinnear’s murder.

Kilian’s bail application in the Booth matter was to have been heard on Monday, but the prosecution told the court that the bail application in the Kinnear matter was the determinant factor and that the bail application in the Booth matter could not therefore proceed without a ruling in the Kinnear case.

This makes sense because the Booth matter emanates from the Kinnear assassination on 18 September outside his home at 10 Gearing Road, Bishop Lavis, Cape Town. The assassination of Kinnear set in motion a process with far-reaching consequences and laid bare deep-seated corruption within police ranks, collusion with underworld figures and cellphone pinging on a massive scale. 

Bryer says waiting for the outcome of the bail application in the Kinnear matter is a wise move and will prevent a duplication of arguments and paperwork in the two matters. The Kinnear and Booth matters are intricately linked because of the cellphone pinging which the state claims the accused carried out on both Kinnear’s and Booth’s phones.

“If Kilian is denied bail in the Kinnear matter then bail would automatically be denied in the Booth matter,” Bryer said.

Meanwhile, Kilian’s bail application in the Kinnear murder case, scheduled for Tuesday 1 December in the Bellville Regional Court, will be postponed after the prosecutor contracted Covid-19. Kilian’s counsel has already filed papers stating that he will plead not guilty to all charges, arguing that the pinging is the only piece of evidence that links him to crime.

In his affidavit, Kilian also implicates former cop Bradly Goldblatt as a person of interest involving pinging, saying that he had obtained the software and user code for the tools to ping a cellphone from Goldblatt. Kilian also claims it later came to his knowledge that neither the platform nor the code was exclusive to him, adding that other individuals used the same platform and code.

Asked if the defence would push the state to reveal the identity of other individuals in the country who have been pinging cellphones, Kilian’s counsel Advocate Johan van Aswegen said: “We have mentioned Goldblatt and we want to know from the state what’s his involvement in pinging.”

Kilian’s counsel further contends that their client began pinging around March 2020 and cannot therefore be linked or implicated in murders or attempted murders before this date. Van Aswegen is optimistic about Kilian being released on bail.

The state, on the other hand, believes they have a watertight case against Kilian, arguing that the accused and all those involved in the plot to kill Kinnear acted with common purpose and that the accused conspired with people unknown to the state by virtue of pinging the deceased’s cellphone with the intent of committing murder.

Kilian is back in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Monday 14 December. DM/MC