Durban - Four Correctional Services officers have been suspended after the escape in Dundee of three awaiting-trial detainees.
Richard Niyongalo Frank, a Congolese national with a Durban address, and Jabu Ncube and Themba Ndlovu, from Gauteng townships Alexandra and Dobsonville respectively, escaped after 2.30pm last Tuesday.
KwaZulu-Natal correctional services spokesman, Thulani Mdluli, said a preliminary investigation had necessitated the suspension of the officers who were on duty at the time of escape.
They were suspended as a matter of course, and their fate would be decided once the investigation was concluded.
According to police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, Frank, Ncube and Ndlovu were in the courtyard of the correctional unit in the northern KZN town when one of them allegedly produced a firearm and threatened an officer and his two colleagues.
The officers had been handing out food parcels from visitors to the detainees at the time.
“The three prisoners then forced the warders (officers) to let them out of the prison (correctional unit). One of the prisoners fired a shot outside the prison and the escapees thereafter fled the scene in a getaway vehicle which was parked outside the prison,” Naicker said.
It was believed the trio had not known each other, beyond being held in the same cell while awaiting the conclusion of the court cases in Dundee.
Frank, 32, was on trial for aggressive robbery, five charges of assault and four of kidnapping committed in Dannhauser. Ncube, 31, and Ndlovu, 40, were facing separate cases of robbery in Dundee.
The Daily News has learned Ncube is wanted in his native Gauteng for the same crime.
Dundee police are continuing the manhunt for the trio for escaping from lawful custody.
UKZN-based criminologist, Professor Robert Peacock, said should the trio be caught, they would each face a separate charge of escape from lawful custody.
How the detainees escaped also has a bearing on the possible sentence. “The use of force, taking hostages and whether they have a criminal record are all taken into consideration,” Peacock said.
Although there is no prescribed minimum sentence for this charge, it was likely to also be used as an aggravating circumstance in sentencing should they be found guilty in the original case.
Naicker said a circular had been issued with the photographs of the three men and urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stop at 0860 010 111.
Daily News