These are allegedly the words uttered by Jerome “Donkie” Booysen amid clashes over tow truck turf in the Mother City.
The claims were made in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday amid the ongoing trial against alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, and others.
This week the State introduced a new witness, ‘Mr B’, to testify about the death of slain tow truck driver, Richard Josephs, who was killed in September 2019.
According to the State witness, who was also Joseph’s employer, issues arose with a company known as Sasha Tow Trucking and a meeting was called at Mike’s Kitchen in Milnerton.
He says Josephs was sent to the restaurant to scout it out, amid claims that Modack was linked to Sasha Towing.
He says Josephs observed a limousine arrive along with ‘men in black’, who appeared to be bodyguards.
The witness says he called Donkie, the alleged boss of the Sexy Boys gang, as a precautionary measure and Donkie agreed to attend the meeting.
However, his arrival sparked a heated bekgeveg with Modack’s alleged henchman and co-accused, Jacques Cronje.
Mr B explained: “He [Cronje] said he represented Modack and we told him that he is not in the tow trucking business and an argument ensued between Booysen and Cronje. After the exchange of words, everyone got up and nothing was resolved.”
This is, however, in contrast to the testimony of an earlier State witness who claimed that the matter was resolved but that he was sent by Modack afterwards to kill Josephs to ‘send a message’’.
The witness, Mr A, admitted on the stand to shooting Josephs multiple times on 19 September 2019.
During cross-examination, Cronje’s legal representative, Advocate Inge Jansen, told the court that her client disputed this, saying he was not sent by Modack but was instead contracted by the owner of Sasha Towing to represent the company.
This, Jansen explained, was based on earlier information that Donkie would be present and the owner was fearful of her safety.
Cronje claimed that Donkie got up and charged towards him saying: “I am the Sheriff of Cape Town.”
Jansen said Cronje responded: “I don’t care if you are who you say you are.”
Jansen says the two men then started vloeking at each other and the meeting was called off.
Mr B said he could not dispute the exact words used in the argument ,while Modack denied having any knowledge of the meeting or links with Sasha Towing.
Meanwhile Acting Provincial Head of the Hawks in the Western Cape, Brigadier Mushavhaduvha Ramovha also took the stand and revealed that three months prior and on the exact day that the father of a Hawks detective was killed in Melkbosstrand, he received an offer from Modack’s lawyers to hand himself over.
This comes after earlier testimony by former Warrant Officer Nico Heerschap who said that at the time of his father’s murder, Modack was aware that their commercial crimes unit was investigating him for a R50 million vehicle fraud case.
Ramovha told Judge Robert Henney that he found it strange to receive an email from Modack’s lawyer, Irefaan Parker, saying that they were aware of an investigation and were willing to bring Modack in so he could be arrested.
While the letter did not specify which investigation, Ramovha, said he made a reference to commercial crimes.
monique.duval@inl.co.za