Cape Town - The bad blood between notorious brothers Jerome and Colin Booysen was allegedly the basis for a series of underworld hits amid an alleged fight over the drug trade, court documents have revealed.
This comes amid the arrest of Colin and five others, who are to go on trial for the murder of two gang bosses and an alleged henchmen after they were busted by the Hawks earlier this year.
Colin, the younger brother of Jerome, returned to Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Friday for his bail hearings alongside Sillico Oliphant and Moegamat Faizel Abrahams.
The trio were busted alongside Herbert Zoutman, Prince Khumalo and John Edward Smith.
The group face over 20 charges for crimes including murder, racketeering and smuggling mandrax worth R1.8 million.
Court documents have now lifted the lid on what allegedly led up to the assassinations of Marwaan “Dinky” Desai from Mitchells Plain, who was killed alongside his henchman, Shameem Mohammed, in June 2017, and Joburg gang boss Mark “Bin Laden” Groenewald.
In an affidavit by the investigating team, police claim the case goes back to 2013, when they uncovered a mandrax factory in Durbanville, allegedly owned by Jerome, the alleged leader of the Sexy Boys gang known as “Donkie”.
Initially, investigators were probing both brothers after the bust, but after they discovered Colin was allegedly separating his business from his older brother, they opted to investigate him separately.
Police intercepted Colin’s communications from August 2015 to March 2018, and further claimed that Jerome excluding Colin from business dealings led to violent clashes in the Western Cape and Gauteng.
“From the investigation, it was established that Colin Booysen continued to operate a drug business and other criminal activities in the Western Cape.
“The attempt of Jerome Booysen’s group to exclude Colin Booysen from club business activities in the Western Cape and Gauteng led to violent offences in Cape Town in order to protect their business.”
The State alleges that before Desai and Mohammed were allegedly traced by Colin, a tracking device had been placed on Desai’s white BMW X5. They further state that Desai was killed as a result of being embroiled in a fistfight with Colin and a failed murder plot aimed at killing him.
Groenewald was shot and killed in Reiger Park on December 8, 2017, and according to the State’s case, was targeted as he was allegedly linked to Jerome.
“Colin Booysen considered him (Groenwald) to be the ‘teeth of the dog’. Colin Booysen indicated that he thought that if the teeth of the dog were removed, he would have fewer problems in his business dealings in Gauteng,” the affidavits revealed.
The State has objected to the release of Colin and his two henchmen, saying it was important to protect State witnesses. The hearing was postponed to Thursday for Colin’s legal team to respond to questions.
Earlier this year, Jerome went on trial alongside controversial businessman Mark Lifman in the Western Cape High Court for the murder of slain Brian “Steroid King” Wainstein.
In court papers, the State revealed that the charges levelled against Jerome and Lifman followed a fallout in the underworld “brotherhood”.
The split was allegedly negotiated by Naude with Colin leaving the brotherhood and allegedly joining the Nafiz Modack grouping.
The documents state that the duo started taking over clubs from Lifman and Jerome, leading to a bitter rivalry which would result in years of attempted murder plots.
In July 2017 there was a failed attempt to murder alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, who was an alleged associate of Wainstein.
The State alleges that Wainstein believed Lifman was behind the botched hit and planned to murder one of his bodyguards in retaliation.
The indictment further states that a plot to murder Wainstein was later hatched between Lifman and the 27s gang.