Jantjies hellbent on carrying out Modack’s instructions to murder Kinnear, court hears

Nafiz Modack accused of murdering Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear appeared with Zane Kilian and Jacques Cronje on a host of charges in the Blue Downs Court on Friday 14 May. (Photo: Vincent Cruywgen)

By Vincent Cruywagen

21 May 2021

Startling evidence and further incriminating voice recordings relating to the five attempts to assassinate Anti-Gang Unit Lieutenant Charl Kinnear have been revealed in an affidavit before the Parow Regional Court.

Before the failed five attempts on the life of Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) Lieutenant Charl Kinnear in November 2019, alleged underworld figure Nafiz Modack had sent a picture of the policeman and his home to Amaal Jantjies, who is accused of orchestrating the hand grenade attack on Kinnear’s home.

Kinnear knew of this before the failed hand grenade incident at his home in Bishop Lavis on 23 November 2019. The next attack on Friday, 18 September 2020 outside his home was lethal.

This evidence and further voice recordings relating to the five assassination attempts on Kinnear in November 2019 are contained in the affidavit compiled by Warrant Officer Trevor Thomas Shaw.

This seems to be the same modus operandi that murder accused Zane Kilian used when he downloaded images and personal details of Kinnear and forwarded it to a Mr X.

The State has since determined that Mr X is indeed Modack and subsequently charged him in relation to failed attempts on Kinnear, his murder on 18 September 2020 as well as the failed hit on lawyer William Booth on 9 April 2020 in Cape Town.

Shaw has obtained several statements from witnesses, WhatsApp messages and audio recordings implicating Jantjies, her co-accused Janick Adonis and Modack in events leading up to the failed hand grenade incident on 23 November 2019.

His 56-page affidavit was read into the record earlier this week as part of the State’s heads of argument in opposing bail for Jantjies, who is facing five charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, conspiring to acquire an explosive device relating to the hand grenade incident at Kinnear’s home in November 2019.

Jantjies also faced an additional charge for the contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. This gang-related charge relates to her relationship with Adonis, who is an alleged hitman of the Junky Funky Kids, or “JFK”. Adonis, her co-accused in the hand grenade incident, has abandoned his bail application.

It is apparent from Shaw’s affidavit that Jantjies at one point, in November 2019, became desperate after she had requested a State witness to carry out an attack at Kinnear’s house.

The State witness sent her a video with police parked in front of the detective’s house. He was unable to carry out an attack and Jantjies, according to a message contained in Shaw’s affidavit, had urged him to “make an attempt to let it happen and that if he dies it is a bonus”.

This is just one of a host of cellphone billing records, messages and recordings Shaw retrieved and attached to his affidavit.

Shaw is part of the national task team established on 1 October 2020 to investigate the assassination of Kinnear. In the indictment Shaw claims that Kinnear was murdered due to his involvement in an investigation against Modack.

His affidavit, handed in at the Parow Regional Court, only pertains to the events leading up to the failed hand grenade attack. He provided insight to the court on how the plan originated and who had orchestrated the plot to remove Kinnear from the equation.

Amaal Jantjies stands accused of orchestrating the hand grenade incident at the house of Anti-Gang Unit Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear in November 2019. Photo: supplied

Shaw argued the plan to murder Kinnear surfaced around 21 August 2019 when Sergeant Wayne Leukes of the AGU informed Kinnear that Adonis wanted to meet him.

This happened while Adonis was scheduled to appear in the Khayelitsha Priority Crimes Court. Kinnear agreed to meet Adonis.

Kinnear then assisted in transporting Adonis to Helderstroom Correctional Services in Caledon. During that trip Adonis told Kinnear that he knew Modack and that he had shared a prison cell with him.

Shaw’s affidavit mentions that Adonis had informed Kinnear that Modack “received assistance from various police officials” and that he had voice recordings of Modack corroborating his allegation.

Adonis was even prepared to supply Kinnear with these recordings, the affidavit reads. But Kinnear was sceptical and wanted to determine the motive behind Adonis’s eagerness to assist the police.

Kinnear established that Adonis had been under the impression that since he was Leukes’s commander, he could arrange for Adonis to get bail on a current case. Instead, Kinnear informed Adonis that he should speak to his legal representative.

Adonis was persistent and had told Kinnear that he would ask his father to provide the memory card which had contained these recordings. But Kinnear continued to show no interest and informed AGU head Major-General André Lincoln about what Adonis told him.

On 9 October 2019 Lincoln instructed AGU members to transport Adonis from Khayelitsha Court to his office at the Faure Base. Lincoln met Adonis that day and present at that meeting was Captain Franklin Stone, Sergeant Ashley Tabisher and Sergeant Marlon Adams. Adonis also requested that his girlfriend, Amaal Jantjies, be present.

“Adonis told Lincoln that he had information on the murder of a Sergeant Donovan Prins. In exchange he wanted to charges against him to be withdrawn or that he be released on bail in the gang-related matter involving multiple attempted murder charges executed against rival gang members that he was standing on trial in Khayelitsha Regional Court”.

Nafiz Modack appeared with Zane Kilian and Jacques Cronje on a host of charges in the Blue Downs Court on Friday 14 May. (Photo: Vincent Cruywgen)

Lincoln’s advice to him had been to contact the State prosecutor to find out the possibility of bail. Lincoln told Adonis that the prosecution had informed them that the NPA could not withdraw charges against Adonis as the matter had already proceeded. He could also not be let out on bail due to the serious nature of the offences he was involved in, Shaw said.

Trying to win the confidence of the AGU – which later turned out to be a ploy – Adonis is said to have supplied the AGU members with an address in Delft, where a Browning pistol with a magazine and 6x 7.65 live rounds were found.

Then on 11 November 2019 at 12:42, Jantjies had a meeting with Lincoln Stone and Tabisher at the AGU base. She wanted help from the AGU.

Adonis was about to bring an appeal bail application to the High Court and Jantjies wanted to know if there was anything that could be done to prompt the court to impose a more lenient sentence.

According to Shaw, the AGU asked her if Adonis did not have better and more worthwhile information for the police.

“Jantjies told the AGU the reason why Adonis stopped giving information was because there was nothing in it for him. She was told that Lincoln needed Adonis to work constantly for them. It was put to Jantjies, the AGU needed a file to say on this day and that day he did this and that for them,” Shaw explained,” Shaw explained.

From his affidavit it appears that Jantjies and Adonis supplied AGU members with information relating to seizures of firearms in the hope that they could present favourable circumstances for Adonis to be released on bail or receive a lenient sentence.

Information that he and Jantjies had supplied the AGU led to the recovery of a gun and the arrest of suspects. On 12 November 2019 an abandoned gun and 30 abandoned mandrax tablets were found.

But Shaw said: “The WhatsApp messages retrieved between Jantjies, Adonis and an associate from Modack shows that Adonis and Jantjies obtained these illegal firearms on at least two occasions and placed it locations where it was discovered as abandoned items by the AGU members.”

Shaw went on to explain that on Wednesday, 13 November 2019, Stone had received a call from Adonis warning him that Modack “knew that Lincoln and Kinnear were in Johannesburg and that four Ukranians were looking for them, to kill them, but that they could not find the two.’

Stone, who was aware that Lincoln and Kinnear were in Johannesburg, alerted the two of the threat. He also drafted a threat report and submitted it to National Intelligence.

The following day, 14 November 2019, Lieutenant-Colonel André Kay, who lived a couple of streets away from Kinnear, was assassinated while pulling out his drive-way.

At the time of this shooting Adonis appeared in the Khayelitsha Regional Court. But Adonis was aware of what transpired at the murder scene. Adonis informed a Warrant Officer Robyn (first name withheld), who was with him at court, that he had information regarding the murder of Kay.

Robyn called Tabisher, who was at the crime scene, who then informed Lincoln. The AGU head then requested that Adonis be transported to the AGU base.

Adonis met Lincoln at the AGU base and he told Lincoln why Kay was murdered. This information, the prosecution said, will be part of the indictment when the matter is transferred to the Western Cape High Court.

“Adonis stated that he was contacted by Modack who requested Adonis to assist him to kill Kinnear. Adonis further mentioned that he received a picture from Jantjies which was sent by Modack for Adonis’s attention. The picture contained the contact details of Kinnear as well as his residential address,” Shaw said.

This prompted Lincoln to place AGU members at Kinnear’s residence.

According to the affidavit, when Adonis was asked to repeat what he said to Lincoln to Kinnear, he said: “He was contacted by Modack. Modack requested him to kill Lincoln, Kinnear, and Captain Anthea Japhta.

“Modack would supply Adonis with a car and hand grenade. Adonis was supposed to recruit people to throw the hand grenade at Kinnear’s house.”

Tabisher is said to have handed a cellphone to Kinnear on which he saw a picture of himself containing his personal details, his contact numbers, email and his residential address.

Adonis was adamant that he had received this photograph from his girlfriend, Jantjies, who had initially received it from Modack.

“Adonis insisted that they executed the operation as planned by Modack and that he, Adonis, would supply two of the runners in order for them to be arrested shortly before the commission of the crime at Kinnear’s house.”

Lincoln and Kinnear had then deliberated whether they would proceed with Adonis’s plan and applied for a Section 252A authorisation from the director of public prosecutions in Cape Town, to conduct a clandestine operation, Shaw said.

But this plan, Shaw added, was struck off the table because Lincoln could not approve such an operation. Secondly, Lincoln had to put certain steps in place to action this and the operation was too much at risk.

Kinnear, after seeing his photograph and personal details relayed by Modack to Jantjies, went on leave on 18 November 2019.

The detective was aware of the hit on his life.

On Friday, 22 November 2019, at about midnight, Sergeant Grant David Oakes and Sergeant Mfuneko Sizani of the AGU were part of the static guards on duty at Kinnear’s place.

Around midnight they noticed a man walking down the street. The officers approached the man as he got closer to Kinnear’s house. During “an engagement” a hand grenade fell out of the suspect’s hand.

The suspect, identified as Farez Smith alias Mamokkie, a co-accused in the hand grenade incident, was apprehended.

Tabisher presented Mamokkie with a photo of Jantjies whom he confirmed was “the same female which sent him to throw the hand grenade”.

Sergeant Faizel Ikey Storah was also at the scene when Tabisher’s cellphone rang and Tabisher told him in Afrikaans “hie bel die goose” (here, the women are calling).

This led to Jantjies’s arrest at Martindale Court in Clarke Estate with police confiscating her two phones.

Shaw said:“It must also be mentioned that Tabisher knew Jantjies, and I later established they had a corrupt relationship. It is my submission that due to his relationship, he did not want to physically participate in the arrest of Jantjies.”

Tabisher faced a charge of corruption and, according to papers, agreed to a R10,000 fee to keep Modack briefed about intended raids at his homes and who the police informants were.

The cellphone evidence Shaw gathered relating to the grenade attack revealed that on 9 November 2019 Jantjies started contacting someone saved on her phone as Mr M, via WhatsApp.

“This number was used by Modack. I have obtained copies of affidavits in which he was the complainant in criminal cases where he utilised this number as his contact.

“He also gave this number up as his cellphone number on 2 May 2021 when I took his warning statement. During several Push-To-Talk [PTT] messages that Jantjies had sent to him, she referred to the person she was communicating with as Modack.”

The cellphone evidence further indicated that on 6 November 2019, Jantjies started communicating with a c0ntact saved on “cellphone B” as “Modack” via WhatsApp.

“The contents of the WhatsApp messages revealed the direct involvement in the hand grenade attack on late Kinnear’s house on 22/23 November and his involvement in corrupting a member of the AGU on 10 November 2019,” Shaw said.

He added that timelines of the relevant events were further revealed in an affidavit obtained from Adonis on 23 November 2019 that Modack had contacted him on 29 October 2019 and had requested him to kill Lincoln, Kinnear and Japhta.

Shaw was also able to establish that on 5 November 2019 Jantjies had started contacting an associate of Modack.

The associate informed Jantjies on 9 November 2019 a WhatsApp user had contacted and informed her that “Nafiz asked him to message her to collect a cellular phone. On the same day she communicated with contact Mr NM [Modack] on WhatsApp on cellular phone A that Modack supplied her with”.

“I have obtained detailed billings for both her cellular phones via Section 205 summonses and I established that the cellular phone was activated on 9 November 2019.”

On 10 November 2019 Jantjies responded to Modack saying that Tabisher “was in” and that he would provide information on when Modack’s premises were to be raided. Tabisher allegedly wanted a weekly salary and a cellular phone.

Following the money trail Shaw was able to determine that R10,000 was deposited in a Capitec account on 9 November 2020 with reference “fees”, and two further deposits namely R12,000 and R20,000 were made on 11 November 2019 with the same reference.

“I submit that the R2,000 was for the urgent bail application of Adonis and the R10,000 and R12,000 for corrupting Sergeant Tabisher. A deposit was also made of R7,000 with reference admin fees on 12 November 2019 and on 15 November 2019 a R15,000 with reference consultation.”

On 11 November 2019 Jantjies informed a Nawaaz Adonis in the PTT that “a person called Andre will help her with 3 sandwiches [guns/firearms]”.

Six days later, 17 November 2019, Jantjies sent “Mr NM a video which was made from a moving vehicle with the title ‘U see there is a lot of police but ons is besig hy se hy vat sy tyd. Hy sal dit doen u don’t have to worry.”

She sent “Mr NM” a PTT message asking whether there was a way to obtain a hand grenade.

An affidavit Shaw obtained from a State witness indicated that he had been approached by Jantjies on 15 November 2019 “to do or arrange a drive-by-shooting or hit at Kinnear’s house”.

This State witness made the video of the police activities at Kinnear’s house on 17 November 2019 and sent it to Jantjies who in turn sent it to Modack.

From 22 November 2019 Jantjies stepped up the process to procure a hand grenade. She subsequently met a person in Macassar where she exchanged a gun for the hand grenade.

Around midnight on 22 November, Mamokkie ventured off with the hand grenade, heading towards Kinnear’s house in Bishop Lavis.

With all this electronic evidence as well as affidavits obtained from several individuals was the State’s submission that the communication between the parties “clearly demonstrates that the she was involved in the illegal purchase of firearms and ammunition, several attempted murder on the life of Kinnear’s, SAPS members protecting and his families”.

On why the Jantjies should not be granted bail the State contended there was a likelihood that she would “endanger the safety of the public”.

“She was persistent in letting the attacks take place. She also has the connections to execute these types of attacks. The fact that she targeted a high-ranking officer in the AGU is even more shocking.

“Her conduct had indicated that over a period from 17 November 2019 until 23 November she planned several attacks on the house of Kinnear and sourced firearms and individuals to execute the attack.

The prosecution also believes Jantjies knew the identity of witnesses and the evidence they may bring against her.

“She was prepared to arrange an attack on Kinnear and nothing will prevent her from targeting other witnesses in the case, she knows. The seriousness of this planned attack on a police officer is shocking. It is clear that it was designed to frighten him and serve as a warning to prevent him from doing his investigations,” Shaw concluded.

The names of Jantjies and Adonis have since been added to the combined indictment which include of Modack, murder accused Zane Kilian, Jacques Cronje, Ricardo Morgan and Tabisher.

In this indictment the State has combined the five attempts on the life of Kinnear, his murder, and the attempted murder of Booth.

Modack, Kilian, Cronje, Tabisher and Morgan are back in the Blue Downs Regional Court on Monday, 24 May and the same day Judge Ashley Binns-Ward will deliver judgment in Kilian’s appeal for bail refusal. Jantjies will hear on 26 May whether her bail has been denied. DM/MC

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