By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Western Cape High Court has dismissed Nafiz Modack’s discharge application related to the murder of top cop Charl Kinnear.
Modack and 14 others are on trial for an array of 124 charges including Kinnear’s murder, who was shot outside his home nearly five years ago.
Modack and his co-accused pleaded not guilty to the charges in January 2024.
He contends that nothing connects him to the assassination of Kinnear and that the only matter linking him to the crime was the pinging. It is Modack’s version that he did not kill Kinnear.
Modack now has to deliver his arguments in chief, especially relating to the murders of Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) commander Kinnear, Nicolaas Heerschap, father of former Hawks officer Nico Heerschap, tow truck driver Richard Joseph and the attempted murder of lawyer Willam Booth.
Modack and debt collector Zane Kilian are the two main accused in Kinnear’s assassination on 18 September 2020. The State contends that they also conspired in a failed attempt to murder lawyer Booth on 9 April 2020.
Judge Robert Henney ruled that “with all due respect to all the counsel that argued this, their argument is a misapplication of the law, and misunderstanding of the law in respect of the principle underlying the applications in terms of section 174 (of the Criminal Procedure Act).”
Hence the application for the remainder of the charges to be dismissed was denied.
“The court does not provide reasons for the refusal of section 174 applications, for reasons that will become apparent at a later stage, “Judge Henney said.
The group faces a raft of charges including murder, attempted murder, gang- related activities and money laundering.
Kinnear’s widow, Nicolette, said about the verdict: “It is a huge relief. We are aware that this is a marathon, this was a huge hurdle that we needed to overcome, but the race continues… We all know that there are still people out here that have not been charged; we all know that I’m referring to SAPS members.
“Vengeance does not belong to me, it belongs to God and the God that I serve will make sure that justice is served,” she said.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says concessions were made on eight of the 124 charges.
“We made concessions on eight of the charges out of 124 because we felt that we could not take the evidence any further and also it was being fair to the accused as well. We didn’t want to burden the court knowing that we could not take the charges any further. So, we are happy and are ready to start with the trial to get the accused to testify and for us to cross-examine them.”