Murder accused Zane Kilian adamant he was not in the Western Cape when top detective Charl Kinnear was gunned down

Murder accused Zane Kilian said on the day the of the murder of Charl Kinnear he was purchasing medicine at Hillcrest Chemist in Springs, Gauteng. (Sreengrab: Supplied)

By Vincent Cruywagen

27 Nov 2020

For the first time since the assassination of the Anti-Gang Unit Lieutenant- Colonel Charl Kinnear, murder accused Zane Kilian, 39, gave the Court a glimpse into the murky waters of pinging in this country.

Zane Kilian said in his affidavit, submitted by his counsel Advocate Johan van Aswegen as part of his bail application in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 27 November, that he intends pleading not guilty to all charges and argued that the only thing that links him to the murder is that he pinged the cellphone of the deceased in order to locate him.

The state is adamant that his pinging is part of the plot that claimed the life of Kinnear on Friday, 18 September outside his home at 10 Gearing Road, Bishop Lavis. Kilian, a debt collector and former rugby player, is alleged to have pinged Kinnear’s phone 2,116 times until the very moment the top detective was brutally taken out.

In addition to the murder charge Kilian is also facing a count of conspiracy to commit murder and the unlawful interception of communication. He is also facing similar charges in the attempted murder of criminal lawyer William Booth.

“I do have the tools to ping a cell. It is done from my cell phone via a platform with the aid of a code. I use this method to trace and repossess motor vehicles for which instalments are in arrears.

“The software and user code for this tool was obtained from a Mr Goldblatt. He is well known to the investigating team in this matter. He loaded the software on my cell phone and provided me with a code,” Kilian said.

Kilian further underlined that it came to his knowledge that neither the platform nor code were exclusive to him, adding he bought pings from the supplier and then some of them would disappear from his account. And when he complained they were replaced free of charge, Kilian added.

“It is my respectful submission that other individuals were using the same platform and code, therefore the record of this code cannot link me to the crime. The deceased is unknown to me and I live in Gauteng and the deceased used to live in the Western Cape,” his affidavit reads.

Brad Goldblatt told Maverick Citizen that he would not comment on the Zane Kilian matter but said: “I will divulge that Zane Kilian had his very own user name and password that was exclusive to him which I didn’t even know myself. I also would like to have written sight of all allegations Kilian has made against me.”

Murder accused Zane Kilian allegedly purchased medicine at Hillcrest Chemist in Springs, Gauteng.
(Screengrab: Supplied)

In his affidavit Kilian also indicated he had a solid alibi on the day when Kinnear was murdered. He has submitted CCTV footage photographs showing that on Friday, 18 September he was in Hillcrest Chemist in Springs, Gauteng to purchase medicine for his autistic son.

Apart from mentioning that his son is a special needs child Kilian for the first time revealed that he is bipolar and needs daily medication.

Murder accused Zane Kilian said on the day the of the murder of Charl Kinnear he was purchasing medicine at Hillcrest Chemist in Springs, Gauteng.
(Sreengrab: Supplied)

As to why he should be released on bail Kilian contends his release will not endanger the safety of the public at large adding that he will not inter alia influence or intimidate any witnesses, not conceal or destroy any evidence, nor evade his trial upon release on bail and that he will adhere to the bail conditions and attend court dates until the case has been finalised.

Kilian’s lawyer Eric Bryer said: “On Friday, 27 November we handed in an affidavit and the court was quite congenial about it and the state asked for an adjournment so that they can study the document and filed a replying affidavit so that the matter (will) be fully ventilated on Tuesday, 1 December.”

Elaborating on the pinging he reiterated that the gist of the allegations made in Kilian’s affidavit was that he was pinging and not a shooter. Pinging someone is not shooting somebody and from that point of view since this case happened the whole pinging world has been exposed, he explained.

“I was in Johannesburg with the investigating officer in the murder case of doctor Abdulhay Munshi who said one platform alone had over 500,000 pings but they haven’t disclosed who did the pinging, adding there is a multitude of users.

“It is very suspicious that the police were able to say that Zane pinged Kinnear’s phoned 2,200 times but after two months they still haven’t come with the balance of the pinging but there are 500,000 pings so it is going to take a long time to come up with analysis. But there are definitely plenty, plenty of people doing pinging out there and he is certainly not responsible for every death in South Africa and he also got on to the platform in February 2020,” Bryer said.

"Hopefully we will have an affidavit soon confirming the numbers of pings of all other people by various different owners," he added.

Eric Ntabazalilia, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, confirmed that the state will only table its documents in court when the bail application resumes on Tuesday. DM/MC

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