“Julle almal gaan vrek.”
This was the spine-chilling threat allegedly made to a State witness in the murder case of little Jordan Brown from Lavender Hill, the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court heard this week.
This was revealed as the bail hearing of the alleged hitman Cole Nel got under way following the gang hit on Jordan’s father, Cheslin Nelson, in Lavender Hill.
The 10-year-old Grade 5 pupil from Prince George Primary died in a hail of bullets after a lone gunman opened fire on Nelson, who was the leader of the Fast Guns gang at his headquarters in Shepherd Way.
During the explosive bail hearing, it was revealed that Nel committed his first murder at just 16 years old, and was under house arrest at the time Jordan was killed.
During the cross examination of the investigation officer, warrant officer Jerome Kleinbooi, he dropped several bombshells as he explained why they were opposing Nel’s release.
He explained that according to Nel’s criminal record, he was convicted of murdering a member of the Mongrels gang in 2019 and was given a sentence of five years correctional supervision.
Nel was also charged with the murder of six-year-old Nathalia Pienaar, but was later acquitted.
A bekgeveg broke out between Kleinbooi and Nel’s lawyer, Anthony Beranato, as the latter questioned the anti-gang unit detective on his claims that Nel is a flight risk.
Kleinbooi said that cops searched for Nel on the same day of Jordan’s murder, but he was not home.
Beranato claimed that Nel’s mother had told him that she lied to AGU about her son’s whereabouts as she feared they would moer him.
But Kleinbooi said Nel’s mother had given a statement to police on her son’s involvement in the Fast Guns prior to Jordan’s murder and was therefore a State witness.
Beranato commented on Nel’s weight and height, saying it was “improbable” that Nel could have entered the gang stronghold and wiped out the gang boss and other skollies on his own, stating: “I don’t have John Wick standing behind me.”
But Kleinbooi scoffed, saying Beranato knew niks about gang wars on the Cape Flats.
“You don’t have to be big or strong. Him going in there and ordering a cup of tea would not have been threatening because he was one of them, they trusted him.
“He went in to lees the room [to ascertain if Nelson was armed]before fetching the firearm.
“You don’t need to be Rambo or Sylvester Stallone. I maintain that he is a flight risk.”
Kleinbooi further told the court that on September 13, one of the State witnesses received a threatening call from Nel while he was inside Pollsmoor Prison.
“He told the State witness: ‘Julle almal gaan vrek’”.
Beranato criticised the detective for not investigating the call.
The bail hearing continues.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za