On Tuesday, a member of the Terrible West Siders (TWS) gang testified in the Western Cape Division of the High Court that alleged underworld figure Nafiz Modack ordered a hit on Nico Heerschap, who was then a Hawks officer, in July 2019.

In a case of mistaken identity, Nico’s father, Nicolaas Heerschap (74), was murdered instead.

The State’s first witness, who could only be referred to as “Mr A” to protect his identity, was giving evidence in the trial of those charged with the murders of Heerschap, Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear and tow truck driver Richard Joseph, as well as the attempted murder of the attorney William Booth.

Heerschap was shot dead on 9 July 2019 while reversing his Toyota Land Cruiser out of his driveway in Melkbosstrand, outside of Cape Town. He was about to take his grandchild to school. At the time of the murder, Heerschap’s son Nico was investigating Modack.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Modack and co-accused plead not guilty to a murder in big Kinnear case amid tight high court security

Modack and his 14 co-accused are collectively facing 124 charges including murder, attempted murder, corruption, gangsterism, extortion, illegal interception of communications, money laundering and contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.  

Evidence in the murder trial of Charl Kinnear. (Photo: Supplied)

Premeditated hit

In his testimony, Mr A detailed the planning and murder of Heerschap. He said that Moegamat Toufeeq Brown, the alleged leader of the TWS gang, arranged the hit.

Mr A said while he was staying in Eerste River, he was approached by alleged TWS members Riyaat Gesant, Fagmeed Kelly and Mario Petersen on 15 June 2019. They said, “hulle nodig my krag”, which can be translated to “they needed my power”.

Before this meeting, Mr A said, he had purchased two .38 pistols from a person in Mitchells Plain that he intended to use for his protection. 

“While smoking with Petersen, he told me there is work that I must do. They were previously at the scene and didn’t carry it out. It’s [a] ‘Mangaung’ type of a mission — in gang language, meaning you will go to prison,” he told the court.

He said he then met with Petersen, Gesant and Kelly at Brown’s house where he was told about the murder plan.

Evidence in the murder trial of Charl Kinnear. (Photo: Supplied)

Shooting

A day before the murder, according to Mr A, he was with Brown, Kelly and Petersen at a Woodstock house when they heard a car hooting outside. It was a charcoal black Mercedes-Benz they would use to carry out the hit.

“Petersen was the driver and Kelly the passenger in front. Gesant and I were in the back seat. We drove and parked the car behind the Caltex garage in Salt River.

“I was reminded by Brown the following day I must take out somebody so that they can get money, that they are going to work for a ‘baas’, which is going to be a lifeline job and that the boss is going to give us bulletproof cars.

“When I asked Brown if the boss is a ‘minister’, he told me it is one of the big bosses. I told him, ‘Don’t worry, I’m wearing the number nine jersey and I will score the goal.”  

He testified that Brown handed over R700 for petrol money to carry out the hit. 

“I was to be the shooter and Gesant the backup shooter. When we arrived at the scene, we drove past the house and stopped around a corner. I jumped out with Gesant behind me.

“I saw the vehicle [driven by Nicolaas Heerschap] idling in the driveway. Somebody walked to the car. When we arrived at the vehicle, it reversed halfway out of the driveway. I ducked behind the big wheel of the vehicle so that the driver could not see me. I crawled my way to the driver’s side and fired two shots through the driver’s window.”

The vehicle, he said, jerked forward and then backwards, hitting a tree, and he knew the driver was dead.

‘Wrong execution’

At the time, Mr A said, he was unaware that he had killed Heerschap Snr, not his son the Hawks officer.  

Asked by prosecutor Blaine Lazarus how he felt when he realised that he had shot the wrong person, he said: “Ek was kwaad [I was angry]. Brown told us that everything went according to plan, but we shot the wrong person.

“Before the shooting, the shooter was supposed to get R60,000. Brown told us the man who is doing the shooting was doing it for the TWS.”

Mr A and his alleged accomplices were not paid on the day of the killing and when he asked why, he was told it was because of the “boss”.

“I asked Brown who is the boss. He said the boss is Nafiz Modack. I don’t know Modack, I have never met him and only saw pictures of him in newspapers,” he testified. 

Those involved in the killing were eventually paid R25,000, said Mr A, after Ziyaad Poole, another co-accused in the case who is allegedly part of the “Modack Enterprise”, came to Brown’s home with another person.

The court further heard the TWS gang members destroyed the Mercedes-Benz after hearing that the Hawks had identified the car as being at the murder scene. Mr A said he and Petersen doused the car in petrol and torched it near Monwabisi beach in Khayelitsha. 

Following his plea and sentence agreement with the State in April 2022, Mr A was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for the Heerschap murder, with five years suspended, 10 years for illegal possession of a firearm, 10 years for the illegal possession of ammunition, five years for participating in the gang activities and five years for conspiracy to commit murder. The sentences ran concurrently.

The trial continues. DM