RONNIE ELIOTT and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 10.30am
THE case against fugitive and suspected heist artist, Collin Chauke, was on Tuesday postponed to April 3 next year for trial.
Charges have been withdrawn against two of Chauke’s three co accused — Munuku Matjene and Chauke’s right-hand man and best friend Muntu Mahlangu — due to lack of evidence. Chauke and his co accused are charged with the R12,6-million SBV Arcadia cash heist in October 1997.
Mahlangu (32) was arrested with Chauke at a luxury townhouse in Nelspruit in January. The third co-accused, Lucas Yende, is currently on trial in the Pretoria High Court for the 1997 Bronkhorstspruit cash heist. Chauke was the only one of the three who wore a body strap to which his hands were bound and leg irons. Eyewitnesses said he appears very thin and has his head shaven.
He is now in custody at C-Max, the ultra-high security prison in Pretoria. Chauke, believed to have masterminded a string of violent cash-in-transit heists, has been on the run for over a year since he escaped from police custody in December 1997. He is wanted for 30 murders and 17 heists involving the theft of R82-million.
Chauke was first arrested in connection with the Arcadia robbery. He escaped with five others from Pretoria Local Prison in December 1998 after holding a prison warder hostage at gunpoint and has since been linked to a series of other cash heists.
He, however, has consistently claimed he is innocent, and in an interview with Radio 702 late last year, said he has never killed anyone and is merely a cocaine dealer.