Cape Town - An elaborate operation by the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) to source information by allegedly allowing an inmate special privileges, including a cellphone, has raised eyebrows at the Western Cape High Court.
This comes amid the ongoing underworld trial against alleged kingpin, Nafiz Modack, and several others.
Judge Robert Henney, along with defence teams, have started to poke holes in the State’s case amid testimonies by police officers into the grenade attack on the home of slain detective, Charl Kinnear.
Former couple, Amaal Jantjies and Janick Adonis, are at the centre of the murder plot after the unit arrested Faeez Smith with a grenade outside Kinnear's home on November 23, 2019.
Smith fingered the duo as those who hired him, but they have in turn blamed former AGU boss, Major-General Andre Lincoln for the attack.
They claim they had been working with the elite police unit to recover firearms and provide information in the hopes that police could help them secure bail for Adonis who was in custody at the time.
But defence teams have highlighted that while the duo assisted in recovering very few firearms, officers took extraordinary measures to hold meetings with them. This week, Captain Franklin Stone took to the stand and told the court he was part of a police escort responsible for transporting Adonis from court to the AGU base.
Adonis has made several shocking claims including that he was handed a blue Dixon cellphone by Lincoln and told to stay in contact.
On Thursday, Adonis’s legal representative dropped another bombshell, claiming he was initially kept at Helderstroom Prison but was moved to Malmesbury Prison.
This he claims was done at the request of Lincoln, as the security “was too tight” in Helderstroom, preventing him from having a cellphone.
Under cross-examination, Stone admitted that he was aware that Adonis had called him and spoke to Lincoln, but denied that his commander ever handed a phone back to Adonis after the attack.
The accused further claimed that he was instructed to call Stone before Smith arrived with the grenade as it was a staged attack at the request of the police.
Judge Henney questioned Stone about the cellphone records showing Adonis had called him, but when the cop said he was unsure about the cellphone access granted to Adonis, the judge quipped: “We were not born yesterday, we know how cellphones work in prison.”
Judge Henney questioned why Adonis was allowed to visit a police base and why officers just did not interview Adonis in prison, saying he found it “highly unusual” that this was allowed.
Meanwhile, Jantjies’s legal representative, Advocate Pauline Andrews, highlighted that there were more privileges afforded to Adonis amid claims he was allowed takeaway foods and visits with his parents.
“I am going to argue that there is more than meets the eye between Mr Adonis and officers at the base,” she told Stone.
The trial continues.