The Western Cape High Court where a self-described gangster was accused of falsely implicating a rival gang member to get rid of a man interested in his girlfriend.

• A self-described gangster testifying in a murder trial was accused of falsely implicating a rival gang member to get rid of a man interested in his girlfriend.  
• He was also told that he had made a mistake with the identity of one of the accused. 
• The trial involves the murder of 3-year-old Marilyn Adams in Eerste River and 15-year-old Christy Meiring in 2020, allegedly caused by drug turf rivalry. 

A self-described Skombizo gangster was accused of falsely implicating their rivals, Beach Cats, in a murder to get rid of a love rival.

This emerged when a witness resumed testifying in the Western Cape High Court on Monday about the aftermath of the murder of 3-year-old Marilyn Adams, the murder of teenager Christy Meiring in an apparent cleanup of potential witnesses, and then trying to finish the job by shooting at a group of Skombizos while they were driving. 

Alleged Beach Cats members Oswin Conradie, Heinrich Louis and Irwin Snel pleaded not guilty to murdering Adams on 28 July 2020, after they got the number for the Skombizos wrong and shot at the wrong house. Adams was sitting outside with her mother at the time and was shot in the head.

Meiring was shot dead on 6 November 2020 in an apparent cleanup of potential witnesses to Adams’ murder. They missed the witness, so on 11 November 2020, they allegedly shot at the car the witness was in. There was only one injury, although their barber who was in the vehicle with them had to drink sugar water afterwards to calm his nerves.

The witness, who cannot be named by order of the court, said he decided to go and talk to the police the day after this incident, “because it is the right thing to do”. 

Louis’ lawyer, Rustin Ravat, said his client denied any affiliation with street gangs, although he did become a member of the 28s prison numbers gang when he was previously arrested on a murder case, which was later struck from the roll. Louis flatly denied having anything to do with Meiring’s murder. 

“He was actually at home,” Ravat said, adding that another man had ordered the Skombizos to blame Louis for Meiring’s murder.

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He accused the witness of framing Louis because the witness and Louis were in a love triangle with the same woman. 

“On your own version, Mr Louis was having sexual relations with your girlfriend,” he said. 

“It is not so,” replied the witness to the allegation that he was framing Louis to get him out of the way.

But Ravat stated that he had already told the court that he was willing to lie when it benefitted himself or his gang, the Skombizos. 

“Yes, I did,” said the witness, who did not expand on his replies. 

‘Just a fan’

Inger Jansen, the lawyer for accused number three – Snel – established through questioning that the witness had first joined a gang when he was 14, then joined the Skombizos when he was 15. 

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By then, he had already spent time in a facility for children in conflict with the law. He is currently serving five years of a 10-year sentence for an unrelated murder. He has testified that he is a member of the 27s numbers gang, and he had chosen them specifically because they “seek blood”.

He testified that the Skombizos’ “head office” was in Kraaifontein, a suburb along the N1 between the Cape Town CBD and Paarl.

He was transferred to Eerste River to start selling tik there, to the annoyance of the Beach Cats, but denied trying to get the Beach Cats out of Eerste River. 

“We had our house,” he said of their drug distribution hub.

Jansen said that Snel’s alibi was that he was with his girlfriend on the day he is alleged to have shot at the witness and others while they were driving. 

Jansen said the witness was confusing Snel with another person with a light complexion, like Snel’s.

Snel said he was not a member of the Beach Cats, “just a fan”. 

“You just don’t want to admit that you made a mistake,” said Jansen. 

“I didn’t,” insisted the witness. 

The trial continues.