Alleged Cape Town underworld kingpin Jerome “Donkie” Booysen operated drug factories at three of the 18 properties he owns, the Cape Town high court has been told.
The court heard Booysen’s property portfolio is worth at least R21.35m, and that his nine cars are worth R1.7m. But the alleged Sexy Boys gang boss denied knowledge of the drug factories, blaming his rental agent.
He was attempting to stop the national director of public prosecutions from confirming a provisional restraint order which prevents him selling the properties.
But judge Ashley Binns-Ward said the state had convinced him it had a good chance of convicting Booysen, 57, under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, at which point it could apply to confiscate the properties.
“It follows that a court that is asked to make a restraint order must also be persuaded that there is a realistic prospect of the defendant being convicted on the charge(s) he faces or is to face,” he said.
The possible loss of his property empire is just one of Booysen’s legal problems. He has also been charged with the murder of “steroid king” Brian Wainstein in 2017, and is out on bail of R100,000 in that case.
He was given bail of R30,000 in February after he and five other members of an alleged drug syndicate known as “the Jerome Booysen Enterprise” handed themselves over to the police.
One of the men who appeared alongside Booysen in the Bellville magistrate’s court was Kenneth Hansen, alleged by the state to have been key in managing the syndicate with Booysen.
Binns-Ward was told Hansen was Booysen’s rental agent, but the NDPP said the Hawks had evidence from telephone intercepts that Hansen sold illicit drugs for R95,000 in cash at Zevenwacht Mall in Kuils River on November 2016, then sought Booysen’s help after being arrested as he left.
The evidence suggests that Booysen might be shown at the criminal trial to have participated or been involved in dealings involving narcotics with an estimated value of between about R7.8m and R10m.
— Judge Ashley Binns-Ward
Six days later, according to a police summary of bugged calls quoted in court, “Kenneth Hansen phoned Jerome Booysen. Jerome tells Kenneth to try to get that money back (the seized R95,000). Kenneth say (sic) Jerome must make statement that he borrowed the money. Jerome says he will state he borrowed Kenneth R70,000. Jerome then says Kenneth can say the rest is money he saved.”
The charges Booysen and Hansen will face at a trial due to begin in February 2022 include 95 drug-dealing counts involving hundreds of thousands of methaqualone (Mandrax) tablets which syndicate members allegedly trafficked and distributed.
Binns-Ward said: “The evidence suggests that [Booysen] might be shown at the criminal trial to have participated or been involved in dealings involving narcotics with an estimated value of between about R7.8m and R10m.”
But Booysen said the foundation of his property empire lay in the 21 years he spent as a municipal building inspector until he retired in 2006 at the age of 42, “and from the investment of his wife’s pension payout of R400,000 after a period more than 20 years’ employment by Yellow Pages”.
Binns-Ward confirmed a provisional restraint order granted in May and ordered Booysen to pay the NDPP’s costs.
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