ARTICLE BY NATASHA PRINCE NATASHA.PRINCE@INL.CO.ZA
ABDUL Boonzaaier, son of former Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie, pleaded guilty in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court to possession of drugs, and was fined R1000. Boonzaaier, 26, yesterday conceded he had four packets of tik on him when police arrested him in Wright Street, Woodstock, earlier this month. It is his second drug-related court case. Prosecutor Quinton Appels told the court that Boonzaaier also had a pending matter in the Khayelitsha Regional Court, in the priority crimes court, for various drug-related charges – a matter for which he was on bail at the time of his arrest. Boonzaaier had been in custody for 20 days. Appels and Boonzaaier had no previous convictions and was a first-time offender. In a statement, Boonzaaier said the tik was for his “personal use”. He admitted that he knew that it was wrong and against the law. Ben Mathewson, for Boonzaaier, read out an affidavit signed by Boonzaaier. He said he was married, had a young child with his wife and other children from other relationships he had to support. He was self-employed, owning four taxis. Appels argued that dealing in drugs was a serious offence and had a serious effect on communities. He said the court needed to show Boonzaaier and the community that “the justice system would not be undermined”, and asked for a fine to be imposed. Regarding the pending matter, Mathewson argued that Boonzaaier was presumed innocent pending the outcome. Magistrate Aziz Ahmied accepted Boonzaaier’s guilty plea adding that it was a serious offence that appeared “quite often” in his courtroom. “Almost all of our Woodstock cases come out of Wright Street,” he told Boonzaaier before fining him R1000.