Cape Town - Alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack’s legal team and the State presented arguments in the Western Cape High Court on his appeal of his bail refusal, while his supporters weathered the rain outside, convinced that he was being persecuted.
Modack and his co-accused were denied bail in the Blue Downs Regional Court in January this year.
He stands accused of offences relating to the attempted murder and subsequent murder of Charl Kinnear, attempted murder of criminal lawyer William Booth, intimidation, kidnapping, extortion, money laundering and malicious injury/damage to property.
Led by advocate Dirk Uys, Modack’s team told Judge Mark Sher that the appeal would be successful as the magistrate failed to properly consider the admissibility of evidence the State had against the accused at the bail hearing, where the State had argued that a prima face case had indeed been established.
The State opposed the application and has accused Modack of orchestrating the hand grenade attack on Kinnear in November 2019, his subsequent assassination on September 18, 2020, when he was shot in his state vehicle outside his home in Bishop Lavis, and the failed hit on Booth in April 2020.
Meanwhile, outside the court, Modack supporters endured the rain with posters that read “Justice for Modack” and “Modack is innocent”.
Zulpha Siljeurs from Mitchells Plain said: “We’ve been supporting Nafiz from the beginning and we will continue to stand by him. Nafiz is a person for the people, he’s always been there for us, he’s helping us, he makes sure that our people eat, and we know he is innocent.”
She said the community has been directly impacted by Modack being held in custody.
“The community has been suffering a lot because all of the soup kitchens he has been contributing to have been shut down, so at the end of the day nobody is being helped any more,” she said.
If successful, Modack will be granted bail of R50000, the same as his co-accused, Ricardo Morgan. Judgment has been reserved.