Zane Kilian's use of 'pinging' bundles in the spotlight in Kinnear murder trial

A former police officer who sold “pinging” bundles to former rugby player Zane Kilian, who is implicated in the assassination of top detective Charl Kinnear, told the high court in Cape Town on Monday he believed the cellphone interception was legal before things got “out of hand”. 

Bradley Goldblatt returned to the stand as a state witness in the murder trial against Kilian, alleged underworld crime boss Nafiz Modack and 13 others who face 124 charges. These include being part of an alleged “enterprise” run by Modack, unlawful interception of communications, murder, attempted murder, intimidation and kidnapping.

Kilian stated in his plea explanation he had a business in Gauteng called Zane Kilian Tracking and Investigation CC and bought a ping system from Goldblatt. This was used as part of services he provided in private investigations, VIP protection and escorting, vehicle recovery and repossession, vehicle tracking, tracing, surveillance, phone pings and debt collection.

The system would give the location of the nearest cellphone tower, not the location or address of the cellphone that was intercepted.

He said at the time he purchased the system, Goldblatt assured him it was a legal process and he believed him as he was a former police official and openly advertised his pinging services.

However, Goldblatt told the court that when he first met Kilian he was using the platform for repossession of cars. He said Kilian was working for Standard Bank. He thought Kilian had a court order to make the pings and that it was legal. 

Goldblatt said to have also told Kilian not to look for trouble and told him: “If the police come for you I’m not going to protect you.”

The court heard evidence that Kilian purchased an unlimited number of pings for R5,000 and that he found other pingers were able to access the system using Kilian’s details.

Goldblatt insisted that was “far from the truth” and said that after he created a username for Kilian to log into the system, he would then have to create his own password which he could not see on the administrative side. If he wanted to access Kilian’s account he would have to go through a process of changing the email address to change his password.

Kilian faces charges of pinging Kinnear, Cape Town MMC for safety and security JP Smith, prominent lawyer William Booth, Modack’s rival alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen and others.

Goldblatt told the court he reported Kilian's excessive pinging not because of what he did, but because of who was pinged. He said one person who was pinged had already had an attempted hit on their life.

Kinnear investigated gang-related crimes and alleged corruption at the central firearms registry. He was gunned down in September 2020 outside his home in Bishop Lavis. 

The trial continues. 

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