Kebble reminds judge of ‘godfather’ books

Cover of Brett Kebble biography by Barry Sergeant called "Brett Kebble: The Inside Story"

Cover of Brett Kebble biography by Barry Sergeant called "Brett Kebble: The Inside Story"

Published Nov 25, 2010

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Evidence in the trial of Brett Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti reminded Judge Frans Kgomo of the “Corleone family” in Mario Puzo's fictional novel, “The Godfather”.

Agliotti, played the role of a top commander or the “caporegime” in the “mafia” hierarchy, Kgomo told the High Court in Johannesburg as he continued handing down his ruling on Agliotti's application for a discharge in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

“I revisited that book after listening to the evidence led,” he said.

Kgomo was revisiting the evidence by security boss, Clinton Nassif, the State's “star” witness.

“The trickery and shenanigans practised... as demonstrated in that book was demonstrated by this family, the Kebbles.”

The “caporegime” was in charge of the lower structures who reported directly to him.

“'The Don' was Brett Kebble, the 'consiglieri' was John Stratton, the 'caporegime' was the accused, the 'lower caporegime' was Clinton Nassif and the 'button men' were [self- confessed hitmen boxer Mikey Schultz and bouncers Nigel McGurk and Faizel Smith],” he said.

“If things go wrong at the bottom of the order... it cannot be traced to the top.”

The “don” was the head of the family, the 'consiglieri” was the don's right hand man and the “button men” were the muscle.

He said Nassif's testimony painted a picture of a structure akin to that of the mafia.

He recalled how Nassif and Agliotti met in 2003 and how the latter introduced Nassif to the Kebbles and to Stratton, Kebble's business partner.

After lunch Kgomo told the court that the testimony of Kebble's butler, Andrew Minnaar and of Nassif's colleague, Steven Saunders, did not take the trial further or add anything new.

Kgomo was over three quarters of the way through his judgment which he began at 10am. - Sapa

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