Alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack has a legal nightmare on his hands after the man tasked with bombing the home of slain top cop Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear pleaded guilty in court.
Faeez Smith was sentenced to 15 years in the mang at the Khayelitsha Priority Crimes Court after he confessed to being part of the grenade attack plot on Kinnear’s home in November 2019, in the process implicating two of Modack’s co-accused.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says Smith was convicted for aiding and abetting the activities of a gang, possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit murder.
Smith, 25, entered into a plea deal with the state and told the court that he was a member of the Junky Funky Kids gang in Manenberg.
He said Modack’s co-accused, Janick Adonis, contacted him from prison on 22 November 2019 and they conspired to launch a hand grenade on Kinnear’s home in Bishop Lavis.
Adonis told him that his girlfriend, Amaal Jantjies, would contact him with details of the plot.
Both Adonis and Jantjies are set to stand trial alongside Modack at the Western Cape High Court next year for the same attack.
Smith said Jantjies later contacted him and he was given directions to the house in Bishop Lavis and was shown a video on a cellphone of where he had to throw the hand grenade.
“He was promised R3 000 for throwing the hand grenade to kill Kinnear.
“He claims at the time, he didn’t know the house belonged to Kinnear but became aware of this after he spoke to Adonis on Jantjies’ phone,” said Ntabazalila.
Smith said before the attack, they drove to Clarke Estate where they bought tik and smoked it in the car. He was later dropped near Kinnear’s house.
Ntabazalila says: “He was dropped close to the house and Adonis sent him instructions via SMS, to throw the hand grenade hard against the wall, to ensure the pin comes out so that it will explode.
“As he got closer to the house, he saw two police officers getting out of their vehicle that was parked in front of the house.
“They confronted him and at that moment the hand grenade fell out of his pants onto the ground and the police officers arrested him.
“He admits the hand grenade could have killed the police officers outside the house and the Kinnear family that was inside the house with him,” said Ntabazalila.
Smith was sentenced to five years imprisonment on each count but the court ruled the sentences should run concurrently.
Kinnear, an Anti-Gang Unit commander, shot dead outside his home in September 2020.
Modack, Jantjies and Adonis were arrested and charged for the murder in 2021.
Smith’s conviction comes just a week after another skollie admitted that he received money from Modack to kill a Hawks detective.
Abongile Nqodi, 35, was sentenced at the same court for the murder of Nicholaas Heerschap, 74, who was shot in a hit meant for his son, Nico, outside their home in Melkbosstrand in 2019.
Nico, a former member of the Hawks, was investigating Modack’s security company.
Nqodi told the court he was a member of the 28s prison gang and the Terrible West Siders, which operated in Woodstock.
He said he and his co-accused were paid R25 000 and that he met with Modack later in Kuils River where he was “congratulated on a job well done”.
Meanwhile, Modack returned to the Cape Town Regional Court on Wednesday where he faces 51 counts of corruption for allegedly paying R146 000 to former Cape Town Central Station Commander, Brigadier Kolindren Govender.
The state alleges that in return, Govender did favours for Modack including ensuring a businessman linked to him was not arrested.
The case has been postponed to 17 June for consultation with his lawyers.