A self-confessed hitman has fingered suspected Sexy Boys gang boss, Jerome “Donkie” Booysen, as being behind the assassination of top criminal lawyer, Advocate Pete Mihalik.
The shocking claim was made at the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday by the convicted hitman turned State witness in the mammoth underworld trial against Nafiz Modack and several others.
Taking the stand, the man who can only be named as “Mr A”, revealed the chilling murder plot to kill lawyer William Booth, who he said had a R3 million target on his back.
The 38-year-old gunman has already been sentenced for the murder of Nicolaas Heerschap, 74, in Melkbosstrand, the father of a Hawks detective.
Mr A claimed Modack congratulated him on this killing and later contracted him to carry out more hits.
He claimed that on the instruction of Modack’s co-accused, Ziyaad Poole, he received instructions to kill Andre Naude, an associate of Booysen, and businessman Mark Lifman, at his home in Bellville.
But the plan to kill Naude failed when a woman opened the door and later it was found that the gun the hitman had obtained from his friend, was a dud, as it did not have a firing pin and would not have fired.
Mr A said he was later contacted by Poole to kill Booth and told the bounty on the popular lawyer’s head was R3m.
Mr A said he was sent to a hotel in Newlands where Booth’s Mercedes-Benz had been spotted, but the hit failed as he fell asleep on the job. He said he had waited until 1am in the morning but fell asleep in his car and when he woke up, he realised Booth had left.
He was later given an address in Bishopscourt and despite staking out the property, he again failed to get access to Booth.
The hitman said he even went to Worcester to shoot Booth while he attended a trial there, but a large police presence scared him off.
Asked if he was told what the motivation for the hit was, the hitman claimed that Poole revealed that Modack had wanted revenge for Mihalik’s death.
Mr A says: “He said Modack believes Donkie killed Mihalik and because Booth was his [Donkie’s] lawyer, hy moet gly [he must die]. It was an eye for an eye.”
Mihalik, 50, was killed on 30 October 2018, while dropping off his two children at their school in Green Point.
Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti were found guilty of Mihalik’s murder.