The bail application of former rugby player and murder-accused Zane Kilian along with alleged underworld boss, Nafiz Modack, former bouncer Jacques Cronje and Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) Sergeant Ashley Tabisher was due to continue on Tuesday, 20 July, in the Blue Downs Regional Court in Cape Town. 

State prosecutor, Greg Wolmarans, was scheduled to present final arguments as to why the men should not be released on bail. 

Co-accused Ricardo Morgan is out on bail of R50,000. Bail for Amaal Jantjies, accused of six failed attempts on the life of the AGU’s Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear, including one with a hand grenade, as well as bail for Janick Adonis has already been denied in the Parow Regional Court.

On Tuesday, proceedings were stalled by the sudden termination of the service of Kilian’s instructing attorney, Eric Bryer, and advocate Marius Botha. 

The men were representing the former rugby player in his unsuccessful bail bid relating to Kinnear’s assassination on 18 September 2020 in front of his house in Bishop Lavis.

On Monday, 19 July, Bryer received a WhatsApp message from Kilian’s wife Nicole, that read: “Dear Eric… I am writing to inform you moving forward, that we will no longer need your legal counsel due to no funds available, effective immediately.

“I am requesting that you inform advocate Marius Botha that you will be withdrawing and please place it on record tomorrow in court. I expect that you will fully cooperate and understand the family’s decision. We thank you for your assistance.”

Then on Tuesday morning, Botha received a letter informing him that Danie Gouws Inc Attorneys would substitute him.

Maverick Citizen approached Kilian’s wife to get a clearer idea of what had prompted the family to make an apparently hasty decision to change legal counsel after nine months.

“It was a difficult decision. We simply didn’t have any funds left. It was a terrible period both financially and emotionally for our family since Zane’s incarceration. I’m Zane’s power of attorney and a decision was taken to appoint a new lawyer,” said Killian.

She was reluctant to divulge the name of a funder who has stepped up to help her husband, but it has since emerged that it is a family member.

On Friday, 23 July, explaining the legal fees Kilian had incurred so far, Breyer told Maverick Citizen: “I still have a lien [holding] on the file in my possession. It is security and I am not going to release it if my fees of about R200,000 are not paid,” he said.

He said previous counsel, advocates Eckhard Rosemann, Johan van Aswegen and Marius Botha had charged between R10,000 and R20,000 per appearance. There were 30 postponements which he estimated had cost Kilian R10,000 each, amounting to R300,000. This meant that in total he had already spent in the region of R500,000 on legal fees, said Breyer.

This was not the first time that Kilian has changed counsel. 

In 2020, in the Bishop Lavis Magistrates’ Court, documents claiming that Kilian was licensed as a private investigator and a member of the Private Security Industry of SA proved to be fraudulent. 

Following this episode Rosemann withdrew as Kilian’s counsel.

Van Aswegen then came aboard for a short stint in February this year and also withdrew as a result of instructions to submit falsified documents on Kilian’s private eye and security industry registration.

Kilian and Modack, along with Tabisher, Cronje, Morgan, Jantjies and Adonis, face charges emanating from the assassination of Kinnear and the attempted murder of criminal lawyer William Booth on 9 April 2020, as well as charges of extortion, corruption, contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, kidnapping and the contravention of Electronic Communications Act.

Kilian’s bail application relating to Kinnear’s murder was dismissed on 18 March 2021 by Magistrate Nonkosi Saba in the Bellville Regional Court. 

He lodged an appeal at the Western Cape High Court. However, on 24 May, Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward dismissed his appeal application. 

His present bail application before the Blue Downs Regional Court relates to the schedule 5 crime of attempted murder of Booth. 

The second setback stalling the finalisation of the bail application is a new  interlocutory application that was tabled on 20 July by Modack’s senior counsel, advocate Dirk Uys. His previous request to access certain information in the State papers has already been dismissed.

Modack’s latest objection relating to the 900 pages of documents and annexures handed in by the prosecution is that some information is hearsay and inadmissible. This is the basis of the second interlocutory application made by his senior counsel this week. 

The State will wait until Magistrate Deon van Spuy has made a ruling on the interlocutory application before reading the 900-page document into the record.

Van der Spuy has expressed his displeasure with the route the bail applications had taken. The next court date is Thursday, 5 August, which coincides with what would have been Kinnear’s 53 birthday. Van der Spuy has made clear there is no way that the matter will proceed then and a postponement date will be relayed by him on that date.

Kilian’s new attorney now has to be placed on record and be given sufficient time to obtain a court date as well as study all the documents relating to Killian since his arrest on 23 September 2020.

Further delays in this matter will also eventually impede the ability of other co-accused to pay astronomical legal fees.

A matter that was not mentioned in the Blue Downs Regional Court is that Modack needs to be in Gauteng on Friday, 6 August, with 28 co-accused relating to the alleged gun-licence racket laid bare by Kinnear. DM/MC