[imagesource: Noor Slamdien]

Nafiz Modack, an alleged underworld kingpin, was arrested on April 28 last year after a high-speed car chase by members of the National Task Team.

Footage showed him being hauled out of the driver’s seat in Century View, an estate in Century City, Cape Town.

At present, Modack is being held at the Helderstroom Correctional Centre in Caledon, having been transferred from the Drakenstein Correctional Centre in Paarl in January.

He faces around 200 criminal charges, including murder charges for the killing of Anti-Gang Unit detective Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.

His lawyers have been pushing for Modack to be moved to a jail closer to Cape Town (either Pollsmoor Prison or the Goodwood Correctional Centre) as well as other requests, but a ruling handed down in the Western Cape High Court yesterday squashed that.

The Daily Maverick’s Caryn Dolley reports:

“[Modack] contends that he received inadequate medical treatment at Helderstroom and that the prison officials do not allow him to receive food from his family,” the ruling said.

“[He] argues that the food provided by this correctional centre is neither tasty nor nourishing, and that he should be allowed to supplement his diet with nutritious food from his family.”

Judge James Lekhuleni effectively ruled that Modack had no right to dictate to prison authorities where he should be detained.

A transfer closer to Cape Town was ruled out, as was receiving additional food from family members.

Modack and other alleged high-profile figures in the Cape underworld are also embroiled in the murder trial of Brian Wainstein, the ‘Steroid King’, who was killed in his Constantia home in front of his wife and young child in 2017.

Another of his complaints shut down by Judge Lekhuleni regarded shower facilities at Helderstroom:

Modack also felt there were too few warders at Helderstroom “to supervise bathing” and, as such, detainees were “only allowed to shower once every second day”…

Image: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Jaco Marais

In terms of Modack wanting adequate medical attention and food from his family, the judge pointed out that there was a standing rule for inmates — that they would have to see the resident doctor at the facility they were detained in if they wanted “any medication, supplements or vitamins”.

The fact that he is considered a “high-risk detainee” counted against him with regard to being transferred.

In a separate matter, Modack appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court yesterday to be formally charged on a number of fronts, reports IOL:

These include the failed hits on William Booth and Andre Naude, the grenade attack on slain Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear’s family home, and the murders of Nicolaas Heerschap and Richard Joseph…

The State is alleging that Modack played a pivotal role in managing the unlawful activities of [“Terrible West Siders” gang], “in that he managed the illegal operations and illegal activities of an enterprise from July 2019 until September 2020”…

That looks like a rap sheet that warrants being labelled a “high-risk detainee”.

Yesterday’s matter was postponed to August 4 for Modack and co-accused Ziyaad Poole to bring a bail application.

[sources:dailymav&iol]