Wainstein murder: Defence tries to poke holes in cellphone evidence

CAPE TOWN - Defence attorneys for alleged underworld figures Mark Lifman, Jerome 'Donkie' Booysen and Andre Naude on Tuesday tried to cast doubt on cellphone evidence implicating the accused in various crimes including the murder of steroid king, Brian Wainstein.

Lifman, Booysen, Naude and 11 co-accused face 36 charges for the murder of Wainstein and attempts on the lives of their alleged underworld rivals Nafiz Modack and Colin Booysen among others.

Hawks officer Mias Engelbrecht was cross-examined today about cellphone evidence taken from the phones of a state witness who testified he helped Lifman, Booysen and Naude murder Wainstein.

READ: Two accused in Nafiz Modack trial deny playing part in committing murders for him

Wainstein was shot dead inside his Constantia home in 2017.

Engelbrecht presented the court with a report containing a list of phone calls and Google searches taken from the state witness's cell phone.

The list included phone calls from Andre Naude and Wainstein's wife during the period from August 2027 to November 2017.

Defence for the accused, Amanda Nel told the court the witness was at liberty to save the contacts on his phone with names of his choice.

Nel also questioned the authenticity of voice recordings taken from the phone, saying the witness used various applications and they could easily have been tampered.