Doctor in court over harbouring escapers

Published Oct 27, 1999

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Selby Bokaba

A medical doctor was expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Thursday after two armed-robbery suspects who had escaped from police custody last week were recaptured at his home on Tuesday.

The doctor was arrested with fugitives Sipho "Killer" Nkuna and Lassie Sibiya, who were awaiting-trial prisoners facing a string of charges, including the notorious cash-in-transit heist at Bronkhorstspruit.

Police were still interrogating the doctor late on Wednesday in an effort to establish his links to the criminals, who in 1997 escaped from prison with alleged heist kingpin Collin Chauke.

The arrest was carried out by the anti-corruption unit and members of the special task team in the early hours of Tuesday at a plush apartment in Craighall Park, Johannesburg.

The apartment is allegedly owned by the doctor. It is believed that a minibus thought to belong to the doctor was confiscated during the police raid.

The suspects offered no resistance during their arrest.

Police first broke the main gate and entered the Arlington Terrace complex at the corner of Buckingham Avenue and Rothesay street.

They then broke a burglar door at midnight and kicked open a wooden door before throwing a stun grenade into the apartment.

Police stormed the apartment en masse and arrested the suspects.

It took police 15 seconds to penetrate the apartment and arrest Nkuna, Sibiya and the doctor.

When The Star visited the apartment on Wednesday, it was messy and ransacked.

A domestic worker claimed she did not know that her employer had been arrested.

Residents at the complex said they did not know who owned the apartment, but were delighted to hear that the doctor had been arrested with the two fugitives.

A spokesperson for the Health Profession Council of South Africa confirmed it had registered the doctor.

Nkuna, Sibiya and a third person, Oupa Garekoe, staged a dramatic escape from the Pretoria Magistrate's Court cells on Friday. They overpowered two guards before stealing their service firearms and casually walked out of the building.

Garekoe was rearrested in Sunnyside, Pretoria, late on Tuesday.

A reward of R150 000 will be paid out for information that led to the recapture of the three escapers.

Police declined to name the informants.

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