Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Sex, kamikaze drivers and diamonds in abalone trial
“But at that stage you were in custody?” Adonis replied: “Yes.” Judge Erasmus continued: “Will these people come and testify?” And, after a pause, he added: “With the exclusion of the lady,” sparking laughter from the public gallery.
Later in Adonis’s testimony it emerged he was married after he mentioned that she had read his statement back to him.
Adonis is a State witness there to testify how he was lured into the illegal abalone trade by a pastor while attending church. He wasn’t shy about incriminating himself either, telling the court he was still smuggling abalone, in spite of being nabbed twice for the crime, in 2013 and again last year.
Others were equally forthcoming, according to the testimony of Warrant Officer Pieter Koch. When witness Johan Mostert was stopped at a roadblock, and Koch asked what was in his vehicle, he testified that Mostert had replied: “What do you think? It’s abalone.”
Sometimes it was the attractions and relationships of suspected syndicate members which dominated proceedings.
The syndicate’s alleged second in command, Chris Crous, had a single question for the head of marine conservation, Barend Smal. Crous’s advocate, Alan Koester, said his client was once friends with Smal’s sister, and “he just wants to know if your sister is still as beautiful as she was”.
Smal, presumably referring to his sister’s current boyfriend or husband, replied: “Well, she is, yes, but I think he should rather not go there because that brother will shoot him.”
Another alleged syndicate member, Donovan Dickson, who often travelled to Joburg to deliver abalone, stopped in Mpumalanga “dozens of times” because he had a girlfriend there and “the love was strong”, the court heard.
The witness whose testimony was probably the most colourful was Jan de Waal, who was asked whether he also went to the strip club with Adonis.
There was laughter when he replied: “No thanks, I check that at home.”
That prompted advocate Sakkie Maartens to ask him about his earlier testimony that he had cheated on his wife. He replied: “That was then, but I cried myself back into her arms. At this stage, I’m very happy, thank you.”
He also testified that Stanford wasn’t “my top attraction”.
“I prefer Hermanus because the girls are prettier.”
De Waal also gave the court a lesson on the meaning of the term “local drivers”: “We always called them kamikaze drivers because they’re wild guys that messed things up quite a bit and led to unnecessary mistakes.”
In the court record, he singled out Gaby van Wyk as one of the worst: “Well, I’ll never forget Gaby. He was one of those cowboy drivers. One night when we had to load (abalone) on the N2, he crashed into the ass of the minibus’s trailer because he really drove like a madman. I’d say he’d make a great helldriver.”
When De Waal was asked to differentiate between the accused Dickson and his brother Alton Dickson, who is a State witness, he answered: “Alton is more of a gangster than Donny.”
He also used the expression “unorganised crime” to describe the work of the syndicate, which he said was chaotic.
Another witness, Quinton Knoetze, agreed, saying it was “a circus”.
“Your honour, this abalone story... it was a terribly confusing. There was no plan, no pattern, not at all. It was a free for all,” he told the court.
He told of how an “Englishman” named Dale became more of a conman. But when he was asked whether Dale was more of a crook than Alton Dickson, who weighed the abalone on the shore, he said “no”, and that “Alton is far ahead” to more laughter from the public gallery.
He added: “Alton Dickson is a real crook. He stole from everybody and delivered to everybody.”
Explaining why, as a State witness, he was still talking to Crous, Knoetze said: “He and I had the same problems with our wives. You know, they become different when there’s less money.”
Finally, there was a Namaqualand tale to demonstrate that no matter whether you’re the alleged leader of a massive criminal operation, you’re not above being conned yourself.
Alleged syndicate leader Frank Barends was apparently not happy, or busy enough, with the abalone operation and so turned to the diamond business, according to testimony from witness Renaldo Newman.
Newman testified about a trip to Springbok, when he accompanied Barends to allegedly buy diamonds. But the diamond seller disappeared with their cash and left them with “bottle glass”.
He said Barends and four friends, some armed with guns, returned to Springbok to demand their cash back. When they confronted a woman at her home, she ran away, jumped over a fence and called the police.
Barends and the crew fled, according to the court record, but police arrested them and off to jail they went.
The case continues on Tuesday. henriette.geldenhuys
@inl.co.za