Third bail application for alleged 28 Mobsters gangsters who face 60 charges

Cape Town – Two alleged members of the 28 Mobsters gang, one a former police officer, believed to be behind the murders of a family, are now busy with a third bail application.

Elcardo Adams and Alfonso Cloete and 12 others are facing a mammoth trial where the State is set to prove that as members of the 28 Mobsters gang they allegedly murdered businessman Hampshire “Hempies” Brown, his son, Corne Brown, and a woman relative Chevonne de Wet.

Adams and Cloete had launched a third bail application recently and were back in court today at the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court.

The bail application is set to continue during December.

They were denied bail in February and previously they carried out a bail appeal at the Cape High Court.

The 14 accused are represented by William Booth Attorneys and Advocate Zirk Mackay.

Pre-trial proceedings have also been set for February 11, 2022. The trial is expected to take place between May 23 and June 15, 2022.

Legalities such an interpreter and an attorney for one of the accused is also being arranged.

They are facing 60 charges, and 134 witnesses, of which 21 witnesses’ identities will be withheld, are expected to be part of the trial.

The 14 accused are facing charges ranging from murder, attempted murder, possession of explosives, the illegal possession of firearm and ammunition which has been deemed a Schedule 6 offence.

According to court papers, The State argues the accused were identified via a 204 witness (State witness) as positive for planning the murder of Hempies Brown, and that one of the co-accused had given a confession which corroborated the 204 witness’s account of events.

It is alleged the gang carried out four attempts on the life of Corne Brown before murdering him in February last year.

The State further intends to prove that under the instruction of Adams, the gang allegedly pursued hits.

Gilliano Williams, who was Hempies’s friend and was killed because Adams was allegedly informed that he (Williams) was training Corne to continue with the drug and gang business.

The nightmare began for the Brown family in February 2018 when Hempies was shot after gunmen opened fire on him and his wife Wendy Brown in the parking lot of their bottle store in Kleinvlei.

The couple owned Hempies’ Bottle Store and Club Wendy’s in Kleinvlei and were well-known in their community.

Brown’s bulletproof car was riddled with shots and they then targeted Wendy’s vehicle.

Brown moved in and blocked the attack and the bullets hit his windscreen leaving him wounded and he died later in hospital.

In 2018, soon after Hempies’ death, another relative, Chevonne de Wet, was shot in a vehicle while visiting the family’s home.

Her toddler escaped the shooting unharmed.

The State is set to prove the murder was under the instruction of Adams who allegedly said everyone at the residence must die.

During the alleged attempts on Corne’s life, he had been making an appearance at the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court for a case which had been withdrawn against him and gunmen attempted shooting him while he was leaving the courthouse.

A third attempt in 2019 was at the Club Galaxy in Athlone where gunmen again missed and shot Corne’s uncle who had been left blinded by the shooting.

Corne, who had been a part-time DJ, was playing at a festival at the Prince Alfred Hamlet Sports ground in Ceres on February 1, 2020, was left wounded together with his girlfriend when gunmen opened fire.

He died in hospital on February 13, 2020.

Weekend Argus