The Western Cape High Court has heard of a sinister plot – allegedly by police – to murder alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack.
The bombshell was dropped by co-accused Janick Adonis on Monday as he submitted a plea explanation disputing all the State’s evidence.
Modack and his co-accused returned to court for the mammoth underworld trial centred on the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) detective, Charl Kinnear.
As plea explanations got under way, Adonis shocked the court when he said the grenade attack on Kinnear’s home was fake.
In his plea explanation, Adonis claimed he was approached by Kinnear and former AGU boss Andre Lincoln, while in custody, and told to help stage an attack on Kinnear.
He said he was told that after the staged attack, police planned to confront Modack and then kill him and create the impression that he was trying to resist arrest.
Adonis said he did not want to be part of the plan but was forced to recruit Faeez Smith to throw a grenade at Kinnear’s house.
He claimed the grenade had no firing pin and was not capable of exploding. He also claimed that the date and time for the staged attack was arranged with Kinnear to ensure his family were not present.
Adonis said that on the day Smith was arrested outside Kinnear’s home while walking with the grenade in his pocket, he was stopped by another police officer who was aware of the plan.
“The staged attack did not take place. The SAPS did not inform me why the staged attack did not take place and why Smith was arrested early. Even if Smith tried to execute the attack by throwing the hand grenade it would result in a failure due to the harmless hand grenade.”
Meanwhile, Modack’s younger brother, Yaseen, told the court he was not guilty of any of the charges against him, which included money laundering, corruption and charges under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
According to the State’s case, Yaseen acted as the director of Empire Investment Cars and allegedly facilitated the payment of money to a middleman to corrupt high-ranking cops which included Kinnear and Major-General Jeremy Vearey.
The indictment listed charges relating to the payment of pings and alleged bribe money from the company account to various people, including Amaal Jantjies, the former girlfriend of Adonis.
Meanwhile, outside court protesters carried posters saying Modack would spend another Ramadaan in prison as a result of the alleged set-up by the AGU.
argusnews@inl.co.za