Family members and friends of the Gani family learnt in disbelief, that the Aboo father and son, who were facing life imprisonment if found guilty for the premeditated murder of Khaleel Gani, were found not guilty.
However, there was a sign of relief from the accused, Suliman Aboo and his son Nabil who, together with family members in court were in jubilation and could not thank their defense attorney, the flamboyant Kineil Muthray enough, when the magistrate at the Atteridgeville Regional Court announced the not guilty verdict on Wednesday (June, 4), even before the accused were to testify. It is believed that the Laudium police botched up the case as they rushed to the shooting scene clashing with the Erasmia police, although the jurisdiction of the scene of crime fell under the Erasmia police. The vehicle in which Khaleel was driving at the time of the shooting, a black Merc coupe, was apparently not searched by the police for a possible firearm in the vehicle. Thus there was a doubt as to whose firearm was used. When attorney, Kineil Muthray, who represented Suliman and Nabeel, cross examined key state witnesses, some of them fumbled and gave contradicting evidence. Kineil proved to the court that the ballistic test carried out on Suliman’s 9mm firearm was not proven to be conclusive, as the firearm that was used in the shooting of Khaleel. He also under cross examination of the expert witnesses proved that the evidence bag used by the police was changed and that the post mortem report was not conclusive as to the cause of death, despite Khaleel sustaining gunshot wounds to his neck and arm. Khaleel was shot on August 9, 2021 and passed on in hospital 10 days later. The state was convinced that they had a water tight case, as they had CCTV footage of the shooting incident which went viral, (even on the Laudium Sun Facebook page) and eye witnesses, thus they believed that they would secure a conviction against the Aboo father and son, but clearly they were not fully prepared for the cross examination by Kineil.
in the neck and arm, and died 10 days later.
Kineil told the Laudium Sun, after the not guilty verdict, “I am pleased that justice was seen to be done. The court found that witnesses had contradicted themselves to the extent that they damaged the states case beyond repair. As a result, I brought an application in terms of section 174 of the criminal procedure act and the accused were found not guilty and discharged without having to testify themselves. I believe that the witnesses came to court with a coached version and for this reason they were not able to withstand the cross examination and to recover from their contradictions.”
down the evidence of the state’s expert
witnesses, resulting in the father & son,
Suliman & Nabil being found not guilty.
RECAP
CCTV footage that went viral at the time of the shooting, showed a white BMW 1 series, chasing a black Mercedes Benz Coupé, on Barbara Coetzer Street in Erasmia, in the early Monday morning of (August 9 – Women’s Day) at around 8:00am. The footage then showed three Indian males getting out of their white BMW and pelting the black Mercedes with bricks, in full view of security personnel and passing motorists. A number of gunshots were fired towards the Mercedes, which apparently began as the car was travelling down the road, before it came to a stop, at a pile of bricks outside a housing development. According to a passerby, a woman, who was apparently in the Merc, then got into the white BMW, which then drove away. The driver of the Merc who was identified as Khaleel, was found shot and rushed to hospital due to injuries he sustained.
Subsequently, the Laudium Sun learnt that the driver of the white BMW, was caught by the JMPD shortly thereafter, after skipping a number of red robots. The car was searched and a firearm believed to be used during the shooting incident was found. A link was soon established to the shooting which took place in Erasmia and Suliman Aboo (Chaya) of Erasmia, was arrested and charged at the time for the attempted murder of Khaleel. It was later established that the woman in the Merc with Khaleel, was Afshin Rafiq, the wife of Suliman. Suliman was with his then 18-year old son and a friend from Durban during the shooting and pelting incident. It is believed that Afshin was a close friend of Khaleel and that she tagged her husband Suliman along on many occasions, when she socialized with Khaleel and his other friends from Jhb.
believed to be a close friend of Khaleel.