How slain Cape cop was left exposed
Why was top gang buster’s security removed, widow asks after grisly killing
● The assassination of a leading detective has brought the Western Cape’s bloody underworld war to a chilling new level and a defining moment, an expert in organised crime said yesterday.
The warning came as police unleashed an intensive operation across Cape Town to trace three hitmen seen in security camera footage running away from the scene of LtCol Charl Kinnear’s murder outside his Bishop Lavis home on Friday afternoon.
The detective’s 24-year-old son, Carlisle, said he was the last person to speak to his father before witnessing the shooting, which has prompted police minister Bheki Cele to order an investigation into why Kinnear’s protection was withdrawn.
The detective, who was behind the wheel of a white Toyota Corolla, was waiting for Carlisle to move his car from the driveway when he was shot.
“The last conversation we had was 30 seconds before he was shot,” Carlisle told the Sunday Times yesterday. “He phoned me to come and pull up my car. So it happened in front of me.
“It’s heartbreaking and it might sound cruel to say that I am glad he got shot in his head. I didn’t want him to suffer and be shot 19 times in the stomach and have to continue fighting for his life. He didn’t deserve that.”
Carlisle said Kinnear personified hard work and determination. “No matter where we were, if his phone rang we knew that we came second to his job and we accepted it,” he said.
“He would go to work, get home at 4am, and at 6am he would be back at work. This morning it sank in that I will never see him come through the door again.”
Cele, who visited Kinnear’s widow and two sons yesterday, promised an investigation into why protection was withdrawn from the detective, who specialised in investigating organised crime. He said “heads will roll” over the decision.
In November 2019, a police Nyala was stationed at Kinnear’s home around the clock after two suspects were arrested outside with a hand-grenade. But the vehicle was removed the following month and Kinnear’s widow, Nicolette, said the police did not explain why.
Speaking to the media yesterday after a private meeting with Cele, Nicolette said: “There are a lot of things that should have been done differently.
“I have received the minister’s word and I appreciate that he is going to investigate and he has promised to come back in a very short space of time to give us the feedback.
“I don’t think what my sons and I need now are lies. I am prepared to give SAPS [the South African Police Service] an opportunity. As the minister has said, there are more questions than answers.”
She said her husband “lived for his job. From 31-odd years ago he pursued until the bitter end. His work was his passion. He lived for his community and SAPS. The loss is great. We will miss him, obviously.”
Mark Shaw, director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, based at the University of Cape Town, said
Kinnear’s murder would be the state’s defining moment in its response to the organised crime threat facing SA.
He cautioned against apportioning blame for the murder in the “period of uncertainty” immediately after the assassination. “[The hit could have been ordered by] a number of players unfortunately, and they use that uncertainty and in a sense the timing is chosen. All of these things are calculated,” said Shaw.
“I have no doubt this is the result of organised crime. When a senior member of the police working in the organised crime envi
ronment gets killed, that’s a hugely worrying signal.
“This has to be a wake-up call for government about how powerful criminal organisations have become, how over time they have failed to deal with the issue.”
The murder of a prominent police officer such as Kinnear displayed “an unprecedented degree of confidence by people in the criminal underworld”, said Shaw.
But depending on the way the police respond, the assassination could backfire. “A lot depends on the response of the state now. It’s not enough to just arrest the hitmen in this case. It’s really an urgency to reach to the top of the organisations that perpetrate these crimes and to make sure that the state is able to do that,” he said.
“What the state does in the coming days will be very important. Does it overreact, or is it able to make arrests and signal that this behaviour will not be tolerated? I would argue that it’s a very important moment in the fight against organised crime in South Africa.
“Tough talking might be fine, but actually the state needs to show that it is capable of responding within the rule of law.”
Several sources told the Sunday Times yesterday there are no leads as to who ordered the hit and why. “This thing must have been planned long ago. Kinnear was seasoned, he wasn’t dumb. People would have had to follow him, they would have had to have checkpoints,” said a source with intimate knowledge of the underworld.
“No-one deserves to die like that. Someone was trying to send out a message.”
Kinnear, whose latest assignment was as a section commander in the anti-gang unit, was the investigating officer in several underworld cases, including an extortion case against alleged underworld boss Nafiz Modack.
He was also the investigating officer in the murder case of nightclub security boss and Satudarah outlaw biker gang leader Timothy Lotter, who was murdered on January 5.
Lotter’s associate and fellow alleged biker gang member Stefan Venter was murdered by a gunman on a motorcycle in Gordon’s Bay 10 days ago. It is understood Kinnear was investigating this case as well.
He was also the investigating officer in the October 2018 murder of Cape Town advocate Pete Mihalik, who represented Modack and his associate Colin Booysen in their extortion trial, which ended with all four defendants being acquitted.
During the trial, Modack repeatedly called Kinnear corrupt. But on Friday he said he was saddened by the detective’s murder. “His shooting has nothing to do with me. The police must catch them [the gunmen] and make them [say] who sent them,” he said. “I hope they caught them already. It’s sad.”
Another source drew parallels with the murder of Wynberg magistrate Piet Theron in his Plumstead driveway in September 2000. “He told police that he needs protection, they wiped their a **** on him. The protection was withdrawn, they didn’t give a reason. I don’t know whether it was a resource problem or what.”
The source said that like Theron’s widow, Nicolette had grounds for a damages claim against the police for jeopardising her husband’s life.
Cele said the police had lost a good man. “It is not every day where you find the media saying this was the best of the best,” he said.
Cele said he had spoken to President Cyril Ramaphosa about Kinnear’s killing. “From here I will go back to the president and the national commissioner,” he said. “I must say, unfortunately at the present moment there are more questions than answers even from ourselves as the South African police.”