Cape Town lawyer William Booth shot at at his home by men ‘wearing surgical masks’

Booth is known for assisting numerous high-profile figures, including Fiona Viotti during her Bishop’s College sex scandal, as well as being involved in several major criminal trials.

According to reports flooding in from journalists in and around the scene, police are investigating an attempted hit on him after two gunmen, “wearing surgical masks” attacked him at about 7.30am.

“Booth was standing in his garage at the time of the shooting. Shooters still at large,” reported Natalie Malgas.

Journalist and crime author Mandy Wiener reported that he had been behind his wife’s car at the time, and was fortunate to escape unharmed.

According to unconfirmed speculation, Booth has been working to expose criminal collusion between law enforcement and criminals, and this may have been an attempt to silence him.

In a radio interview in February, Booth expressed concern about the safety of attorneys such as himself following numerous attacks on criminal defence lawyers, particularly in Cape Town.

He called on the public not to associate criminal defence attorneys too closely with their clients, regardless of what someone might feel about the person being represented.

“Everybody is entitled to a [legal] defence,” he said. “People need to know what lawyers are doing for the public, in the interest of the public.”

He said it was “really concerning” that a number of lawyers had been shot dead.

Cape Town advocate Vernon Jantjies was gunned down in an apparent hit at a petrol station in Mitchells Plain in December. In late 2018, another well-known defence attorney, Pete Mihalik, was shot and killed while dropping his children off at school in Cape Town.

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