Cape Town - Zane Kilian, alleged co-conspirator in the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Charles Kinnear has now also been linked to the attempted murder of prominent Cape Town attorney William Booth.
Kilian’s lawyer Eric Bryer said they abandoned his bail application in the Bellville Regional Court as they feared that he would be arrested again for the attempted murder of Booth if bail was granted.
Kilian will now appear as accused number five along with four suspects were previously arrested for the attempted murder on Booth. They are to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court today.
His bail application was postponed after hearing that additional charges would be added to the charge sheet.
Hawks spokesperson Philani Nkwalase said as part of his bail bid Kilian submitted a questionable security certificate in an attempt to justify why he pinged Kinnear’s phone.
Nkwalase said the Hawks’ serious organised investigation preliminary probe established that the certificate was allegedly fraudulent.
He said meanwhile on a separate matter, Kilian was also charged for his alleged involvement in the attempted murder of Booth, where it was alleged that he was involved in tracing Booth’s phone.
In April 9, Booth survived an apparent assassination attempt after several shots were fired at his home by two armed suspects wearing surgical masks. Nkwalase said he (Kilian) was expected to appear at Cape Town Magistrate’s Court today as the fifth accused in the case, facing charges of attempted murder, contravention of Electronic Communication and Transactions Act and contravention of the regulation of Interception of Communications and provisions of Communications related Act 70 of 2000.
Bryer said the defence team took a decision not to proceed with the bail application because it would have been “stupid to do so”.
Bryer said he discussed the matter with the State and said it was better that they complete all the investigations within a month, so that they did not go “back and forth” and repeat the whole process.
“The pinging side of it, we will deal with in time to come but it’s common cause that he was not in Cape Town at the time of the shooting of Kinnear and the person seen on the footage is quarter the size of Kilian,” he said.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the case against Kilian was postponed to November 27 for a formal bail application.
“The NPA can also confirm that a charge of fraud has been added to the charge sheet. This relates to documents that were submitted by the defence on October 9 at the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court where they emphasised that what the accused did, that is pinging Kinnear’s phone, was part of his job,” Ntabazalila said.
“He said he did not commit any crime. It has come out after investigation that the accused was not registered as a private investigator with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA),” said Ntabazalila.
Cape Argus