Sexy Boys drug syndicate trial delayed due to Wainstein murder case crossover

'Steroid King’ Brian Wainstein was murdered in 2017. (Photo: Interpol)

By Vincent Cruywagen

26 Feb 2024

The case in which suspected Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen and others are accused of running a drug syndicate cannot proceed in the Western Cape High Court until the trial in the murder of steroid king Brian Wainstein – in which Booysen and alleged underworld figure Mark Lifman are the main accused – is completed.

Jerome Booysen’s legal representative intends to apply for a separation of trial in the drug case to avoid undue delays for the other accused. This matter dates back to 2021.

On Friday, 23 February, during the pre-trial of this drug-related matter in the Western Cape High Court, Booysen’s advocate, Nthabiseng Mokoena, told the court she would bring such an application in terms of Section 342A of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Mokoena said her client’s attendance in court over the past four years prompted her to file this application. The matter was before Judge Hayley Slingers.

In this case, Booysen and five co-accused – Kenneth Hansen, Kristo Marlens, Clinton Langeveld, Jennen Jansen and Herbert Zoutman – are accused of running a Mandrax syndicate in the Bellville area between February 2013 and November 2017.

The conundrum is that the Mandrax case and the Wainstein case overlap in the Western Cape High Court, and a trial date has already been set. The trial date for the drug case is dependent on the outcome of the Wainstein murder trial.

sexy boys wainstein 'Steroid King’ Brian Wainstein was murdered in 2017. (Photo: Interpol)

Wainstein was shot dead in his upmarket home in Constantia, Cape Town, in August 2017. The gunman entered his house and fired five bullets into the sleeping businessman. His girlfriend and child were in the house at the time.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Igor ‘the Russian’ joins cohort of alleged underworld figures linked to ‘steroid king’ murder”

An initial trial date for Booysen’s drug-related matter was set down for 2 October 2023, but it was postponed because no judge was available to preside over the matter.

The state at that juncture wanted to postpone the matter to 2025, but Judge Robert Henney reportedly wanted the prosecutor to find out if the drug case could instead be placed on hold.

Henney made the directive in an official Western Cape High Court document suggesting that an accused may only be tried in one case at a time.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘One trial per accused’ Western Cape High Court directive could produce even more delay problems

According to state prosecutor Blain Lazarus, the drug-related trial was returned to the pretrial roll.

The state, he said, was prepared to proceed with the drug case, adding that the only issue was determining the trial date.

“Booysen is appearing in another case scheduled for pre-trial on 8 March 2024. That matter, the Wainstein murder trial, is expected to begin on 22 April 22 2024, before Judge Vincent Saldanha,” he said.

Lazarus, who is also involved in the Charl Kinnear murder trial, said, “We are looking at 21 April 2025 for a trial date in the drug case.”

Addressing the court, Mokoena, appearing for Booysen, said they only heard on Friday that the matter did not proceed because there was no judge available. According to her, the reason provided was that the drug matter could not proceed without the other matter being finalised.

“The State is adamant that they will never remove this matter from the roll. I’m therefore bringing a notice that we are bringing this application in which we will ventilate this matter as to why Booysen has to be before this division on two separate matters.

“It also prejudices the other accused who have nothing to do with these other cases in that they have to come to court time and time again, depending on Booysen on when these matters will start,” Mokoena said.

Although a trial date has been set for the drug-related case on 21 April 2025, Mokoena said that while she will be present on that date, she is concerned that the issues that have brought them back to court will arise again.

Lawyers for the other accused argued that in this case, their clients were now dependent on what happened to Booysen in the Wainstein case, and that it was unfair that their trial was postponed repeatedly because the excuse now was that the court needed to see what happened to Booysen.

The application for trial separation and clarity in the Booysen case will be heard on 24 May 2024. DM

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