Defendant claims police manipulated evidence from her cell phones

JOHANNESBURG – One of the defendants in the sensational trial of alleged underworld boss Nafiz Modack has accused the police of tampering with evidence from her mobile phone.

Amaal Jantjies is accused of conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly planning a hand grenade attack on the slain top police officer Charl Kinnear.

Jantjies, Modack and 13 other co-defendants face 122 charges for various crimes related to Kinnear's murder in September 2020.

Jantjies and another co-defendant, Janick Adonis, are accused of planning a grenade attack on the Kinnear family in November 2019.

However, police stationed at Kinnear's home in Bishop Lavis to protect him prevented the attack by arresting a suspect who was in possession of the grenade.

The now convicted suspect claims that Adonis gave him the grenade and Janties instructed him to commit the crime.

Defence lawyer Pauline Andrews objected to the use of messages from two of Jantjies' mobile phones as evidence in court.

Andrews told the court that Jantjies had not been explained her rights and that she had not consented to the seizure of her phones.

Jantjies claims that evidence related to the charges against her was also deleted from her mobile phones.

The process continues.