By Hanti Otto and Zelda Venter
One of South Africa's most wanted men, Dirk Prinsloo, has been formally charged with the "suspicion of committing a robbery" by the Baranovichi police in Belarus, in eastern Europe.
Prinsloo, 39, faces three to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
He was arrested on June 12 after a foiled bank robbery in the western city of Baranovichi.
Allegedly armed with a toy gun and at least one knife, Prinsloo and two other men tried to rob the bank on June 10. Baranovichi police said that when bank employees refused to co-operate, they were assaulted.
One of the women employees managed to press a panic button and the men fled.
Prinsloo's two accomplices were arrested soon afterwards and apparently informed on him. But when the police arrived at his hideout in an industrial area, Prinsloo was nowhere to be found.
In the meantime a boy who saw Prinsloo as he threw down his toy gun and cap outside the bank, managed to give police a good description of him.
By the end of June 10 they were able to identify him and two days later they found Prinsloo in an internet cafe in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
LocaL Prinsloo was reportedly "really shocked", constantly asking how he was found, then replying: "A boy? A little boy?"
The Belarusians found this quite ironic as Prinsloo is wanted in South Africa for, among other charges, sexual crimes against children.
It is believed that he's being detained in Minsk.
Police are also investigating the possibility that he could be connected to other crimes in Baranovichi.
Prinsloo skipped bail in 2005 when the Pretoria High Court granted him permission to travel to Russia for "business". He never returned. He was then put on Interpol's most wanted list.
South African Police Services spokesperson Sally de Beer said there was no bilateral extradition treaty with Belarus, but the country was a signatory to the European Convention, meaning that they would be co-operative in extraditing Prinsloo.
"And, they have indicated that they will co-operate once Prinsloo has served his sentence there," she said.
Back home, it has been a good week for Cezanne Visser - also known as Advocate Barbie.
With Prinsloo - Visser's ex-lover and co-accused - behind bars she no longer has to "look over her shoulder", and her sex trial is nearing an end.
The Pretoria High Court is expected to decide her fate by October 6.
The blonde, who has totally transformed in appearance since the start of her trial more than four years ago, is now sporting glasses and a no-nonsense attitude.
It is clear that she has had enough of the media attention.
This week saw the final questions being posed in court to the head of clinical psychology at Weskoppies Hospital, Professor Jonathan Scholtz. A Weskoppies social worker, who compiled a profile of Visser while she was there for observation, also handed in her report.
Neither Visser nor her mother, Susan Lemmer, wanted to speak about Prinsloo's arrest in Belarus. They said their advocate, Johann Engelbrecht, SC, advised the family not to speak to the media.
Engelbrecht said on Friday the family was relieved that Prinsloo, after being on the run from the law for more than three years, had eventually been caught.
"They are happy that they no longer have to look over their shoulders to see whether he is lurking somewhere. The past few years were trying times for them."
Engelbrecht added that Prinsloo's capture would in no way affect Visser's trial, as the two trials had been separated in May 2003.
If Prinsloo is ever delivered to South Africa, his trial will have to start afresh.
Engelbrecht said Visser was meanwhile relieved that the end of her trial was in sight.
Visser's family could not be reached on Friday for comment but her stepfather, Professor Johan Lemmer, earlier this week said the family was "very relieved".
"These past three years we feared for our lives every day. When we heard the news of Dirk's arrest, a feeling of absolute relief overcame all of us.
"He is responsible for the situation Cezanne finds herself in. With Dirk being arrested, all the true causes of our problems must and will come out," said Lemmer.
Visser's mother, in an earlier interview, also expressed the family's utter fear of Prinsloo.
She said he had several times in the past threatened them with death and added one should not take his threats lightly.
Prinsloo, in e-mails recently sent to the media, mocked the police for not being able to capture him.
"I showed the world why Interpol is an illusion of efficiency and power and why real criminals will have a picnic to evade all efforts by Interpol to capture and contain any such real criminal," he wrote.
The man, described as a sex maniac and a paedophile, must have sensed something was about to happen to him, as he wrote in a letter to the media in April that "the end is possibly near".
He thanked his family and friends for everything they had done for him and said: "I write this, possibly my last letter, to the people who made a good and special impact on my life."
Visser's defence this week also closed its case and the trial was postponed to August 28 for final arguments.