/ 10 January 2007

Shortage of hospital beds delays teenagers’ trial

A shortage of beds at the Valkenberg psychiatric hospital has delayed the trial of two teenagers who allegedly tied fake explosives to a woman and her daughter in an attempt to rob a bank.

In December, the Paarl Regional Court referred Johan Hendrik Smit (18) to the hospital for a month’s observation.

The psychiatric report was to have been handed to magistrate Anna-Marie Immelman on Wednesday, but prosecutor Enslin Orange told her there was a shortage of beds at the hospital, and that Smit’s assessment had not even started yet.

The case was postponed to February 8, when Orange is to inform the court of any progress.

According to the charge sheet, Smit lives in the same block of flats, above Nedbank in Franschhoek, where he allegedly attacked Nedbank clerk Alta Pretorius and her teenage daughter.

Smit is apparently known to the Pretorius girl, who let him in when he knocked at the door of the flat where she lives with her mother.

It is alleged he first tied the fake explosives to the girl’s waist and then forced her to telephone her mother in the bank. She falsely informed her mother she was ill, causing her mother to rush home to her assistance.

Once the mother arrived at the flat, fake explosives were also tied to the mother’s waist, and she was then ordered to remove money from a safe in the bank and to leave it at an appointed place near the bank. If she failed to do so, the explosives around her and her daughter’s waist would be detonated, Smit is alleged to have warned.

Pretorius did as ordered, but was unable to find the appointed place where the money was to be hidden. She then replaced the money in the safe and informed the bank authorities.

It is alleged that Smit had an accomplice, Darren Anthony le Roux (20), but Le Roux denies involvement in the incident and claims to have witnesses to back up his alibi that he was not in Franschhoek at the time.

Smit faces charges of attempted robbery involving R84 000, intimidation, malicious damage and assault. — Sapa