The last surviving member of the Stander gang of bank robbers, who was released from Krugersdorp prison on Wednesday, has asked not to speak to the media, the Department of Correctional Services said.
Departmental spokesperson Graham Abrahams said if Allan Heyl had wanted to speak to the media, he would had to have applied to do so.
”The general rule is that offenders who are released on parole are not allowed to speak to the media,” Abrahams said.
”It is a standard parole condition. If they want any deviation from this rule, they have to apply to the department. Alan Heyl actually asked that he not speak to the media.”
Abrahams said Heyl is not a free man, but will spend the remaining 10 years of his sentence on parole.
He said standard conditions of parole include having a fixed address, reporting regularly to a parole officer and not participating in crime.
Additional conditions are a ”private matter” between Heyl and his parole officer.
Heyl will probably live in Gauteng.
He is going on parole because the department believes he has responded positively to rehabilitation.
Heyl, in his early 50s, was a member of a gang that committed a string of robberies in and around Johannesburg in late 1983 and early 1984. It has been claimed the gang netted more than R500 000 from 20 banks between November 1983 and January the following year.
The gang was led by former police captain Andre Stander, who fled the country and was killed in a shoot-out with police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States in February 1984.
Another accomplice, Patrick Lee McCall, was killed when police stormed the gang’s hideout in Houghton that January.
Heyl had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1977 for robbing five Pretoria banks. He met fellow inmates Stander and McCall at the Zonderwater prison, and the three escaped in late 1983 before setting off on their robbery spree.
When his accomplices were killed, Heyl fled the country in 1984 for the United Kingdom, where he was sentenced the following year to nine years’ imprisonment for crimes committed there. After serving his sentence, Heyl was extradited to South Africa in November 1991 to stand trial for his Stander gang offences.
He pleaded guilty to 18 counts of robbery, 17 of illegal possession of arms and ammunition, five of car theft and one of escaping from prison. Heyl was denied parole twice in the past two years.
Last year, he unsuccessfully approached the Pretoria High Court for an early release. He reportedly sought his freedom to enable him to claim royalties from a recent American-made film about the gang’s exploits.
In a media statement, the Department of Correctional Services said Heyl attained a number of certificates while in jail, including on ”the management of change”, emotional intelligence, listening skills, jealousy management, ”investment in excellence” and anger management.
He also obtained a certificate in adult education and completed a tutor’s course.
”He has also been through the programme aimed at correcting the offending behaviour.”
Stuart Lee, Heyl’s spokesperson, had planned for Heyl to hold a press conference following his release on Wednesday afternoon. — Sapa