A state prosecutor has said that while charges against alleged Israeli mafia kingpin Lior Saadt were withdrawn, this did not mean that the prosecution would end.
State counsel advocate Tom Dicker said on Tuesday that the death of both Hazel Crane and investigating officer Wayne Kukard had a bearing on the case, but this did not mean it ended there.
"There is a possibility we can reopen the case if circumstances (the availability of some witnesses) change," he said, adding that there were witnesses who had initially wanted to testify against Saadt but later declined.
Meanwhile, Saadt did not spend a single night as a free man in South Africa - he caught the first flight to Israel.
He arrived in his home country on Tuesday after flying out of South Africa just hours after the state withdrew charges against him, his lawyer Lawley Shein confirmed.
Before the withdrawal, Saadt, 33, had been supposed to go on trial in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday on various charges, including murdering alleged South African Israeli-mafia head Shai Avissar.
Avissar was the estranged husband of socialite and businesswoman Crane. He was bludgeoned to death in October 1999 and his body was found in a shallow grave on a smallholding in Erasmia, Pretoria, in February 2000.
Crane, who was due to testify against Saadt, was gunned down in November in upmarket Abbotsford, Johannesburg.
The state withdrew the charges against him because of the death of key witnesses, including Crane and Kukard.
Kukard died of a heart attack on January 6 this year. The other witnesses who had been murdered include Julio Bascelli, killed in April 2000, and Carlo Binne, gunned down in April 2001.
When The Star asked Shein whether his client would be prepared to return to South Africa, he said: "He is old enough to make up his mind on whether he wants to return or not."