The State’s chief witness in the extortion case against alleged kingpins Nafiz Modack and Colin Booysen has admitted he lied in court and perjured
himself.
In his police statement and initial testimony in the Cape Town Regional Court last year, Radley Dijkers said the accused came to the Grand Africa Café and Beach to meet with him on 4 November 2017 and demanded money.
However, on Tuesday, Dijkers testified that the accused had assault rifles, and that he had told police this.
“I was told men arrived at the Grand with automatic rifles. I told [investigating officer Colonel Charl] Kinnear I had seen guys come with assault rifles,” Dijkers told the court.
But on Wednesday, the defence produced a typed copy of his police statement, and pointed out that the assault rifles were never mentioned.
A recording of Tuesday’s testimony was also played back and Dijkers, turning bright red, then promptly changed his tune, insisting he never told the Kinnear about the rifles, saying “I did not tell Kinnear about the assault rifles as I did not really want to go through with this or sensationalise anything”.
But Modack’s lawyer, Advocate Dirk Uys, retorted: “You’ve been caught out.”
Dijkers then admitted: “When I was presented with the typed statement, I saw nothing about assault rifles. My mind told me I could get Kinnear fired and the lie was not intentional. I don’t want to get Kinnear into trouble. He’s been good to me and treated me well.”
A sceptical Uys asked Dijkers: “How do we know what part of your evidence is true and what part is a figment of your imagination?”
Modack, Booysen, Ashley Fields and Jacques Cronjé are on trial for money laundering and extortion, linked to a violent takeover of the nightclub security industry in the Cape.
The fifth accused in the matter, Carl Lakay, was murdered in August last year in the driveway of his Goodwood home.
The group was nabbed in December 2017 for allegedly
trying to extort R369 000 from The Grand Africa Cafe and Beach near the V&A Waterfront.