Witness adamant Booysen split led to Wainstein murder

JEROME “Donkie” Booysen and 11 other co-accused returned to the dock facing charges linked to the death of slain steroid kingpin Brian Wainstein and violent clashes in the nightclub security industry, dating back nearly 10 years.

The hofsaak continued with cross-examination of the State’s key witness, Mr X, a Section 204 witness, after he had been in charge of Wainstein’s security before being allegedly recruited by Booysen to murder the kingpin.

Advocate Amanda Nel, representing Booysen, probed the witness on a previous statement given to cops before his 204 

statement on how the conflict in the club industry started heating up when Booysen’s broertjie, Colin, had a fallout with him and the slain Mark Lifman.

Court documents read: “Colin left and took the Sexy Boys muscle with him. Jerome, Lifman, and [slain] Andre Naude approached [fugitive] Kamaal Kishor Naidoo, who in turn told them he would approach [the late] William ‘Red’ Stevens, the leader of the 27s gang, and [the late] Marwaan ‘Dinky’ Desai, the 27s fight general, to provide the muscle they needed. This is how Jerome and Lifman managed to source their protection, but at a price.”

Mr X agreed and said the conflict started in 2016 between Colin and Naidoo, then heated up between Colin, Lifman, and Nafiz Modack at an auction in Parow in March 2017, which led Colin to take over security.

He said Colin then split from the old group (Booysen, Lifman, and Naude) and joined a new nightclub security group with Modack.

Nel said, as per instructions from Booysen, he had no fallout with his broertjie regarding money, but rather an initial fallout between Colin and Naidoo, which Booysen tried to sort out.

Nel said: “We have to agree that the cause of the incident of the huge takeover on the night of 29 March 2017 was due to the fight between Nafiz and Lifman. It had nothing to do with Jerome, because he wasn’t even there.”

X agreed.

Nel further stated that claims made by Mr X that “Lifman, Donkie, and Colin used to be in charge of club security in most of the Western Cape” were not true. 

However, X stuck to his guns, saying it was true. 

The trial continues.