On Thursday, Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney confirmed that the trial of those accused of murdering the Anti-Gang Unit’s (AGU’s) Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear would resume on Monday, 11 March.

A flaming candle in front of a portrait of murdered policeman Charl Kinnear during a memorial lecture in Bishop Lavis on 18 September 2021, a year after the police officer’s murder. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

The scene outside the Bishop Lavis, Cape Town home of Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear who was gunned down in his car shortly after 3pm on 18 September 2020. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Alleged underworld figure Nafiz Modack and former rugby player and debt collector Zane Kilian are the two main accused in Kinnear’s assassination on 18 September 2020. It is also the State’s contention that they conspired to attempt to murder lawyer William Booth in April 2020.

Modack and Kilian, with 13 other accused, 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 13 co-accused are Ziyaad Poole, Moegamat Brown, Riyaat Gesant, Fagmeed Kelly, Mario Petersen, Jacque Cronje, Petrus Visser, Janick Adonis, Amaal Jantjies, former AGU Sergeant Ashley Tabisher, Yaseen Modack, Mogamat Mukudam and Ricardo Morgan.

The Modack Enterprise 

The State claims that Nafiz Modack managed the illegal operations of a criminal enterprise — the Modack Enterprise — from December 2017 to January 2021.

The State further claims that a bank account for Empire Investment was used to conceal Modack’s criminal activities.

According to an affidavit by Hawks investigators Captain Edward du Plessis and Lieutenant Colonel Pieter Joubert, the following payments were made from this account:

• Twelve payments to Kilian to the value of R96,500 between 26 February 2020 and 4 September 2o2o.
• Nineteen payments to Ricardo Morgan to the value of R140,000 between 19 September 2019 and 12 October 2020.
• Five payments to Amaal Jantjies to the value of R64,000 between 9 November 2019 and 15 November
• Thirty-nine suspicious transactions totalling around R1.2-million to Empire Investment Cars.

Modack and Kilian connection

Nafiz Modack (far left in the dock), Zane Kilian (second left) and their co-accused at the Western Cape High Court in 2023. (Photo: Daily Maverick)

According to court documents, Modack and Kilian are intrinsically linked to the murder of Kinnear, the failed attempt on Booth’s life and illegally tracking the cellphones of various people, including retired AGU Major General Andre Lincoln, suspected 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, suspected Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome Booysen and City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security JP Smith.

Judge Mark Sher amplified this link when he dismissed Modack and co-accused Cronje and Tabisher’s bail appeal in the Western Cape High Court in March 2023.

Sher said, “Given the evidence, the obvious and overwhelming inference to draw is that Kilian carried out the electronic tracking of Kinnear at the behest of Modack, and the information which he forwarded to Modack and/or others connected to him, was used in order to plan and carry out his assassination. The indications accordingly are that this was a ‘hit’ which was planned and executed at the instance of Modack.”

Kilian was arrested on 23 September 2020 in Springs, Gauteng. He was in possession of a BMW 740i which allegedly belonged to Modack.

According to the then charge sheet, Kilian unlawfully tracked Kinnear’s phone from around 20 March until 18 September 2020, the day Kinnear was murdered.

Kilian’s bail was denied by magistrate Nonkosi Saba in the Bellville Regional Court in March 2021. Judge Ashley Binns-Ward of the Western Cape High Court dismissed another bail appeal in May 2021. The outcome of his latest bail application was heard in the same court in November 2023 and a decision is still pending.

The grenade plot

Modack and Jantjies, with Adonis and Fareez Smith, both members of the Junky Funky Kids gang, were originally named as key players in an alleged plot to kill Kinnear in November 2019. At the time, Adonis was serving a prison sentence for an unrelated crime.

Smith was arrested on 23 November 2019 while preparing to throw a hand grenade at Kinnear’s house. However, Smith made a plea and sentence agreement with the State and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to possess an explosive device and conspiracy to commit murder.

Smith admitted that he was a member of the Junky Funky Kids gang and that Adonis contacted him from prison on 22 November 2019 and conspired with him to attack and murder Kinnear.

He said Jantjies told him she would pay him R3,000 to carry out the hand grenade attack.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Suspect takes plea deal and admits to grenade attempt on life of murdered cop Charl Kinnear

The dots connecting Modack to five attempts on Kinnear’s life became apparent during Jantjies’ failed bail application in the Parow Regional Court in May 2021. A 65-page affidavit by investigating officer Trevor Shaw revealed detailed WhatsApp messages between Jantjies and Modack, as well as Jantjies’ determination to kill Kinnear.

The Heerschap murder link

Modack is the main accused in the murder of 74-year-old Nicolaas Heerschap on 9 July 2019 in Melkbosstrand, near Cape Town. The murdered man was the father of Nico Heerschap, a Hawks warrant officer who was investigating Modack at the time.

A breakthrough in the case occurred on 8 April 2022, when hitman Abongile Nqodi, a member of the 28s and Terrible West Siders gangs, claimed in his plea and sentence agreement that Modack had ordered the murder.

Following this incident, the names of Brown, Poole, Gesant, Kelly and Petersen were added to the combined charge sheet.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Hitman implicates Modack directly in murder of father of ex-Hawks officer Nico Heerschap

Sergeant Ashley Tabisher

Tabisher worked with Kinnear in the Anti-Gang Unit before allegedly becoming entangled in corruption. He is not linked to the murder of Kinnear and faces charges relating to an alleged corrupt relationship with Modack.

The State contends that during November 2019, when Kinnear was investigating Modack, Tabisher allegedly agreed, for a fee of R10,000, to keep Modack informed of raids to be carried out at his home.

Tabisher’s bail application, along with those of Modack and Cronje, was denied in January 2022. Tabisher appealed against this decision, which was dismissed on 3 March 2023 by Judge Sher.

The judge said, “[Tabisher] was made aware, by virtue of the information which was disclosed at the meetings which were held at the AGU, that Modack was monitoring Kinnear surreptitiously and was planning to execute him.”

Key witnesses

On Thursday, Judge Henney announced that the trial against the 15 accused would resume on 11 March. The judge agreed on a roadmap for the trial, which has already been delayed because some of the accused failed to secure legal representation.

While the State has a long list of potential witnesses, Western Cape NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said that if the parties agree, 60 potential witnesses will be removed from the list and the State will call only 30 key witnesses.

The parties will appear in court on 4 March to discuss possible witnesses.

On Thursday, Judge Henney voiced his displeasure that Yaaseen Modack, the brother of Nafiz, had yet to secure legal representation. Modack said he intended to apply for a Legal Aid lawyer.

Judge Henney ordered him to appear at the Legal Aid offices on Friday morning to apply for a lawyer to represent him, failing which his bail may be revoked. DM