Simple Catch: Remove Post Links

/**
 * This function displays featured posts on homepage header without the links by overriding parent function
 */
function simplecatch_sliders() {
    //delete_transient( 'simplecatch_sliders' );

    global $post, $simplecatch_options_settings;
    $options = $simplecatch_options_settings;

    $postperpage = $options[ 'slider_qty' ];
    $slidereffect = $options[ 'remove_noise_effect' ];

    if( ( !$simplecatch_sliders = get_transient( 'simplecatch_sliders' ) ) && !empty( $options[ 'featured_slider' ] ) ) {
        echo '<!-- refreshing cache -->';

        $simplecatch_sliders = '
        <div id="main-slider" class="post-slider">
            <section class="featured-slider">';
                $get_featured_posts = new WP_Query( array(
                    'posts_per_page' => $postperpage,
                    'post__in'       => $options[ 'featured_slider' ],
                    'orderby'        => 'post__in',
                    'ignore_sticky_posts' => 1 // ignore sticky posts
                ));

                $i=0; while ( $get_featured_posts->have_posts()) : $get_featured_posts->the_post(); $i++;
                    $title_attribute = apply_filters( 'the_title', get_the_title( $post->ID ) );
                    $excerpt = get_the_excerpt();
                    if ( $i == 1 ) { $classes = "slides displayblock"; } else { $classes = "slides displaynone"; }
                    $simplecatch_sliders .= '
                    <div class="'.$classes.'">
                        <div class="featured-img">';
                            if( has_post_thumbnail() ) {

                                $simplecatch_sliders .= '<a href="javascript:void(0);" title="Permalink to '.the_title('','',false).'">';

                                if( $slidereffect == "0" ) {
                                    $simplecatch_sliders .= '<span class="img-effect pngfix"></span>';
                                }

                                $simplecatch_sliders .= '<figure>'.get_the_post_thumbnail( $post->ID, 'slider', array( 'title' => esc_attr( $title_attribute ), 'alt' => esc_attr( $title_attribute ), 'class'  => 'pngfix' ) ).'</figure></a>';
                            }
                            else {
                                $simplecatch_sliders .= '<span class="img-effect pngfix"></span>';
                            }
                            $simplecatch_sliders .= '
                        </div> <!-- .featured-image -->
                        <article class="featured-text">';
                            if( $excerpt !='') {
                                $simplecatch_sliders .= the_title( '<span class="slider-title">','</span>', false ).'<span class="slider-sep">: </span><span class="slider-content">'.$excerpt.'</span>';
                            }
                            $simplecatch_sliders .= '
                        </article><!-- .featured-text -->
                    </div> <!-- .slides -->';
                endwhile; wp_reset_query();

            $simplecatch_sliders .= '
            </section> <!-- .featured-slider -->
            <div id="controllers">
            </div><!-- #controllers -->
        </div><!-- #main-slider -->';

        set_transient( 'simplecatch_sliders', $simplecatch_sliders, 86940 );
    }
    echo $simplecatch_sliders;
}