Inside the attempted hit on Cape Town lawyer William Booth

The details of the attempted hit on Cape Town lawyer William Booth were released in an unexpected plea and sentencing agreement in the Cape Town Regional Court on Friday.

However, instead of a sleek coterie of assassins, the mission turned out to be almost impossible as the hitman fell into a hole in bushes near Booth’s house after getting high during one of the attempts.

In the final attempt on 9 April 2020, five rounds were shot at Booth while he stood with his dogs at home, but he was not hit.

The sudden developments in the matter, in which Springs debt collector and former rugby player Zane Kilian is also an accused, started in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday, before moving to the court across the road.

ALSO READ: Five charged with attempted murder of lawyer William Booth

Smelling faintly like a hospital after it was deep cleaned following a positive Covid-19 case earlier this week, the court room was lined with police task force members in camouflage, holding rifles close to their bodies.

Policemen wearing bullet proof vests also spread out as a case involving alleged members of the 27s gang was heard before the Booth-related matter.

The case was related to the murder of steroid trader Brian Wainstein, and business people Mark Lifman and Jerome Booysen are among the accused.

Four of the accused in that case asked that their bail be amended because it was not safe for them to report to police at Kraaifontein and Stellenbosch as ordered.

The bail amendment was granted to three of the accused, but a fourth was not able to provide proof of a shooting in the area of the police station that he has to report in, so his application was not successful.

They left, but the police remained on guard as Kauthar Brown, Ibrahim Deare, Riyaad Gesant and Kim Smith entered the dock with regards to the attempted hit on Booth.

Kilian was not present with them in the dock.

The four in the Booth matter face charges of being part of a gang – the Terrible West Siders, based in Woodstock – and gang activity, in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca), as well as conspiracy to murder and attempted murder.

Deare also faced charges of illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.

Their recently appointed lawyer Bruce Hendricks put himself on the record for the accused, taking over from the Legal Aid attorney who had been representing them.

Charges were then withdrawn against Smith.

The case against Kilian, for allegedly supplying location-finding details via a cellphone tracking “pinging” service, was separated from the case the remaining three still faced for the purposes of a plea and sentencing agreement

The matter was postponed and sent to the Regional Court over the road, for an immediate plea and sentencing agreement to be submitted for the three.

There was a brief delay to allow for the formalities of the transfer to a higher court, and to find the magistrate during what would normally have been the lunch break.

Family members rushed over the road to where Brown, Deare and Gesant appeared again.

Proceedings started quickly, and the magistrate checked with each of the accused that they understood what was happening.

She went down the row and asked them one by one how they had pleaded, and each said “guilty” – with Deare dragging the word out loudly.

They were convicted, and proceedings moved straight to sentencing.

According to the information submitted in the agreement, the hit was ordered by a member of the Terrible West Siders gang from within a prison.

Brown, a self-employed mother of five who earns around R3 500 a month, received the instructions, and she, Deare and Gesant starting planning the hit in Woodstock.

Brown arranged the transport and the driver. The driver became a State witness and was not named.

According to the documents, they admitted to being associated with the Terrible West Siders and admitted to participating in the criminal activities of the gang.

News24 reported previously that belonging to a gang is not necessarily a crime – it is the criminal activities committed as a gang that need to be proved for a POCA conviction.

According to the agreement, Brown, Deare and Gesant conspired to kill Booth between 6-9 April 2020 in Woodstock and they set about scouting Booth’s address.

However, on one of the trips to scout Booth’s house, Deare and Gesant decided to smoke some mandrax in the bushes.

Mandrax is known to have a sedative effect.

Deare fell into a hole after smoking the drugs, and hurt his leg, so he had to be driven to Groote Schuur Hospital for treatment and the mission was abandoned for the day.

That night, the prison contact was not happy and ordered that they must get the job done the next day.

So, the driver, Deare and Gesant returned to Booth’s house again on 9 April. He dropped them off near Booth’s house.

Deare, a father of three who earns R4 500 a month, walked up to Booth in his garage, where he was standing with his two dogs.

He fired five rounds at Booth, and the three left in the getaway car.

Booth was not injured, but the shooting dredged up memories of the murders of other criminal lawyers in Cape Town, including Pete Mihalik and Noorudien Hassan.

The three received payment from Brown that night.

ALSO READ: William Booth attempted murder case postponed to March

The police published pictures taken from CCTV around Booth’s neighbourhood and arrests followed.

Kilian was joined to the Booth case after he was arrested in connection with the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear on 18 September 2020.

Kilian allegedly supplied location information on targets, although he has denied this in the Kinnear matter currently being heard in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court. He said he was using the service for debt collection work, and paid former policeman Bradley Goldblatt for log in details for this service.

He is still in custody after bail was denied in the Kinnear matter, and in terms of an agreement, he would also not get bail in the Booth matter.

Kinnear was deep into an investigation relating to illegally obtained guns when he was killed and an investigation is under way into why he was not protected. The matter included allegations against police officials.

ALSO READ: William Booth attempted murder accused pleads guilty to drug-related charge

The agreement confirmed on Friday states that the driver seemed to only realise what was happening when he overheard a conversation about the person who ordered the hit becoming impatient.

The magistrate sentenced the three soon after convicting them on all the charges they faced and had pleaded guilty to.

The triggerman Deare will serve 10 years, Gesant will serve five years, and Brown will be under house arrest and compelled to attend various programmes.

The National Prosecuting Authority and investigating officer looked relieved by the outcome as documents were packed up, and everybody left minutes before the 14:00 lunch break ended.

Comment from Booth was not immediately available, but the plea agreement said he had been informed.