Durban - A Hawks task team, set up to investigate gang-related violence in Wentworth, south Durban, have cracked the three-year-old murder of Carl Kinsey that many - including his own family - believed had gone cold.
Four men, alleged to be part of the notorious Destroyers gang, handed themselves over to detectives from the Hawks on Thursday night after warrants of arrests had been issued.
The men were expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s court on Friday.
Kinsey, a 27-year-old father of four, was shot dead outside his home in Wiest Road in December 2012.
His murder was one of four gang-related shootings in Wentworth that month.
Kinsey’s family believe he was shot in a case of mistaken identity by the Destroyers gang, which is embroiled in a turf war over the lucrative drug trade with members of a Wiest Road gang known as G-Section.
His aunt, Collette Kinsey, said the family were relieved that the men had finally been brought to book.
“We actually never thought that we would get justice. We never thought anyone would ever get arrested for it because so much time had passed. We battled for so long with the police over this matter and got no joy. After the Hawks got involved, that is when things changed,” she said.
Collette said the arrests could be a chance for closure for the family, especially Kinsey’s girlfriend and children.
“The worst part for us is that we would see the people accused of his murder almost daily. Just last week, I saw them at the shops. They just smile at us. We know this is not going to bring Carl back, but what we want is the truth and we want to know why he was shot,” she said.
A man had been arrested for the murder in January 2012, but the charges against him were dropped because of a lack of evidence.
Hawks investigators reopened the investigation earlier this year and re-interviewed potential witnesses.
Some witnesses were traced to Johannesburg and were believed to have given statements placing four armed men at the scene.
This is the second cold murder case linked to Wentworth’s gang violence, that the Hawks have cracked this year.
In September, the Hawks gang investigation unit arrested metro policeman, Constable Craig Crowie, 33; alleged gang boss, David Singh, 40; and alleged gang member, Darren Ward, 33, for the 2009 murder of Shiraz Razak in the Bluff area.
It came after Wentworth resident Ronaldo Sewell’s guilty conscience led him to confess to his role in the murder and implicated the other three.
The three men were each granted R10 000 bail last month in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
Since being deployed to Wentworth a year ago, the Hawks gang investigation unit have made breakthroughs into a series of shootings and murders.
Several gang members have been arrested and are at various stages in the court system.
Community activist, Desmond D’sa, said they were pleased with the progress the gang unit had made over the past year.
He said before they had been deployed to the area, not many of the gang shootings had been solved.
“We have been in constant engagement with the police’s top brass over the crime, gangs and drugs in Wentworth. At our recent meeting, we were given assurances that the gang unit will remain in Wentworth for at least another year. We are very happy with this,” he said.
Daily News
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