The jolling of an imprisoned gang boss from Woodstock took centre stage at the Western Cape High Court as the plot to murder top criminal attorney William Booth was laid bare.
Laughter was heard during court proceedings in the trial of alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, as seasoned detective Colonel Eddie Clark took to the stand to detail the steps taken to uncover who was behind the plot to murder Booth.
Booth survived an attack outside his Higgovale home on 9 April 2020 when two gunmen opened fire as he took his dogs out for a morning walk.
Clark explained that the shooting during the national Covid-19 lockdown led him to search the area for cameras which may have picked up suspicious activity in the area.
He says a white Hyundai Creta had been captured on CCTV footage and he approached residents and requested to see their camera footage.
Not long afterwards, he found footage showing two suspects namely Ebrahim Deare and Riyaat Gesant.
The cop said that at the time he had no idea who they were, but decided to release the images in the media.
He then received a call from an informant who identified the men as “Yaati” and “Boetbul” of the Terrible West Siders gang who also informed him of the location of the car.
A large contingent of cops swooped in and arrested the driver, who has since turned State witness, and a woman who was in the vehicle and they traced the origins to the headquarters of the gang in Argyle Street.
He said everyone in the house was arrested including the wife of alleged gang boss, Moegamat Toufeek ‘Bubbles’ Brown and their phones confiscated.
He said the wife, Kauthar, had already been convicted for her part in the plot after pleading guilty at another court.
Clark said when studying the itemised billing of the phones, he came across two numbers which had registered at a cellphone tower near Pollsmoor Prison.
It peaked his interest as the records showed that calls were placed to this number within minutes of the shooting.
Cops studied the most frequent contacts and that is when they discovered the details of the alleged side chick known as Naeela Meyer.
“There were more calls to her than the wife,” the cop said as mense looked at Kauthar in the public gallery.
As defence lawyers objected to the continuous naming of Kauthar in his testimony, Clark had the courtroom in stitches when he quipped, ‘And the girlfriend’.
Clark explained during an interview the alleged jolmeit admitted to being in a romantic relationship with the owner of the cellphone numbers whom she identified as Bubbles, who allegedly gave the orders from prison.
monique.duval@inl.co.za