Cape Town - The conduct of former Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) boss, Major-General Andre Lincoln, came under scrutiny in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday, as he was grilled for handing a criminal a cellphone and later contradicting himself.
The contentious claims by a co-accused of alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, led to a dramatic outburst this week as Janick Adonis openly accused Lincoln of lying under oath.
Adonis, along with his former girlfriend Amaal Jantjies, are charged with a range of crimes linked to the grenade attack on the home of slain detective Charl Kinnear in November 2019.
Adonis, who was imprisoned at Helderstroom Correctional Centre, was reportedly transported by AGU officers to the base in Faure after allegedly exposing a plan by Modack to murder Kinnear, Lincoln and Captain Althea Jaftha.
According to the inmate, he was handed a cellphone by Lincoln, which he says was used to communicate with cops in the planning of the attack.
In his version, he claims that cops had planned to arrest Modack after the attack on Kinnear’s home and planned to shoot and kill him.
On November 23, 2019, Jantjies was arrested by the AGU after an affiliate of the couple, Faeez “Mamokie” Smith, was caught outside Kinnear’s home with a hand grenade.
Adonis contends that the next day the cops arrived at Malmesbury Prison where he had subsequently been moved, with claims that Lincoln handed him back the very phone allegedly used in the staged attack.
It is understood that this was done to see whether Modack would call Adonis.
Lincoln was grilled by Modack’s defence lawyer, Advocate Bash Sibda, who told the court that he initially denied the presence of a cellphone but when confronted with his own statement, which showed a phone was handed to Adonis, he adjusted his version.
Sibda lambasted Lincoln saying the phone was essentially a “tool used in an assassination” but admissions made show that Lincoln handed the phone back to be used by Adonis for a day.
He instructed a Department of Correctional Services officer to supervise him, but the phone still went missing.
As Lincoln highlighted the corruption among wardens as a possible reason for the missing phone, Sibda argued that he was “like a workman who blames his tools”.
“Your story doesn’t add up, because we know that it is a fact that the phone got lost and it was for only one day that the phone had to be monitored. You are trying to wash your hands. This is all part of your plan and you are ultimately responsible. General, you are like a workman who wants to blame his tools. This plan, this stratagem is your plan.
“You were bending the rules for Adonis to have a phone and now you want to wash your hands off and throw your colleague under the bus. Your story is highly improbable and if your story is true, there is no way on God’s green earth that that phone could go missing.”
Judge Robert Henney also raised his concerns about the cellphone, labelling Lincoln’s explanation as a “hopeless exercise”.
The seasoned judge also reflected on the earlier testimonies of two officers, saying it appeared that everyone seemed “cagey” when questioned about the phone.