Cape Town - Former Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) boss Major-General Andre Lincoln says he was threatened with disciplinary action for instituting police protection at the home of slain detective, Charl Kinnear.
This was revealed in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, as Lincoln returned to the stand to testify on the events which led up to the grenade attack and murder of Kinnear.
The testimony comes weeks after that of Warrant Officer Wynand Olivier, who is based at the Hawks Crimes Against the State Unit in Gauteng.
In his testimony, Olivier told the court that two days before Kinnear was shot and killed outside his Bishop Lavis home, he received a call from Bradley Goldblatt of 1Track Solutions, who informed him that Kinnear’s phone was being pinged excessively.
Goldblatt identified Zane Kilian as the pinger.
Olivier also recorded a telephone conversation between himself and Lincoln two days before the murder, where he explained that Goldblatt informed him that Kilian had purchased 150 pings and was pinging Kinnear every 30 seconds.
During the call, Olivier is heard asking Lincoln if the officers had received protection and Lincoln is heard saying: “That we have in place, yes.”
During the call, Lincoln also appears worried that he is being pinged and further questions Olivier about whether the informant picked-up anything on his number, but Olivier said there was nothing for Lincoln’s number.
In his testimony yesterday, Lincoln told the court that after becoming aware of the threat on Kinnear and the lives of other officers, he reported this to police management.
He also deployed AGU officers to the home of Kinnear in November 2019, but says he was instructed that he did not the have authority to do so.
He explained that while risk assessments needed to be conducted on Kinnear’s home, the popular detective did not trust the Crime Intelligence Unit and allegedly dodged officers from the national office.
Lincoln confirmed receiving the information from Olivier and says he made arrangements with the Flying Squad to patrol near Kinnear’s home.
The top cop also found himself in the centre of an emotional outburst by Janick Adonis, who openly accused him of lying about providing him with a cellphone in prison.
Adonis and his former girlfriend are accused of staging the grenade attack on Kinnear’s home.
Adonis has repeatedly claimed he was given a blue Dixon phone to contact the cops whom he said they were working alongside, but when Lincoln denied this, Adonis screamed from the dock: “Sir you took an oath, you gave me a phone. It’s in your statement. Tell the truth.”
The trial continues.
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus