Publications
Partners
Taxi boss Colin Booysen allegedly issued a death threat, using Numbers Gang colloquialisms, to a witness who was expected to testify against him and his bodyguards in a murder case.
The alleged threat forms the basis of an intimidation case against him for which he was arrested on Thursday.
He made his first court appearance in the Bellville Magistrate's Court in connection with the allegations on Friday.
Booysen had already been on the court roll along with his two bodyguards.
READ: Colin Booysen ushered out of court in police convoy after fresh arrest
It is alleged that he did not comply with his bail conditions, which state that he must report to his local police station once a week. His bodyguards had also been rearrested over alleged bail condition violations earlier that day and also face possible cancellation of bail.
Judgment in the bail cancellation application against Booysen was supposed to be delivered on Friday but, due to the new intimidation allegations, it did not go ahead.
Instead, the State reopened its case and led more evidence.
Testifying about the intimidation allegations on Friday, Detective Constable C Jaars said the alleged threat was issued in the corridors of the Bellville Magistrate's Court on December 6.
"He said in gang language: 'Jou nommer sal wys raak op jou,' which means 'you will die,'" Jaars testified. "It also means 'jy moet lig loop' (you must tread carefully)," he continued.
Speaking about the events leading up to the alleged threat, Jaars said he tried to separate Booysen and his bodyguards, Vuyisane Macingwane and Calvin Abels, from the witness outside Court G.
He wanted them to be on different floors of the building - just to be safe.
However, Booysen allegedly managed to issue the threat before they could be separated, the court heard.
He said a witness in the murder case and someone else told him about the incident and that he checked video footage and interviewed the witnesses.
Jaars testified that, in the video footage obtained, Booysen's bodyguards were with him and one could be seen raising his arms in a "stop, stop, stop" gesture.
He said the witness was so scared that he didn't even trust the police to keep him safe. He chose to "hide himself" until the murder case returned to court.
On Thursday, he decided to proceed with the intimidation case and Booysen was arrested.
The bail cancellation case was postponed to December 19 for Jaars' cross-examination.
Booysen is still in custody.
It was decided that it was safest for him to go to Goodwood Prison, even though he was reluctant to be detained there.
The murder case relates to a shootout in Belhar in September in which a man called Adrian Pietersen was killed.
