OMEN
05-04-2006, 11:17 PM
Pretoria - The judge hearing the treason trial in Pretoria High Court, from where two Boeremag accused escaped on Wednesday, has given police 10 days in which to find the pair.
Herman van Rooyen, 33, alleged to be the man bankrolling the organisation, and Rudi Gouws, 28, escaped from the court holding cells during the lunch break.
Van Rooyen apparently has access to a R40m inheritance. He was arrested in Pretoria in December 2002 in a bakkie rigged with 384kg of explosives and two bags of nuts and bolts for shrapnel.
Judge Eben Jordaan gave no indication on Thursday how the escape would influence the trial of the 20 accused still in custody.
He postponed the case to May 15 to give police a chance to catch Van Rooyen and Gouws.
Director Sally de Beer, national police spokesperson said: "We have set up a task team to look for them, but there are no new developments yet."
Police set up hotline
More than 24 hours after Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws disappeared from the court, it seems police are no closer to catching them.
De Beer said police had set up a hotline - 073 650 7502 - for anyone who might have seen the men or know where they are. She said, however: "We warn people not to confront these two as they are considered dangerous."
She said they might have disguised themselves after their pictures had been published in Thursday's newspapers. Henri Boshoff, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, said police would question and possibly watch friends and family of the two escaped men.
He said the two escapees would have to choose between lying low for a while or fleeing across the border.
"The questions are: do they have support and who would hide them?"
Boshoff said it was possible for the escapees to cross the border, but they would need people who sympathised with their cause to help them.
"You can walk across some parts of the border between here and Mozambique, for example, but what do you do when you are there? Someone would have to talk you and someone would have to receive you," he said.
No extra security, says minister
Meanwhile, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said the remaining accused would not be treated any differently and no extra security measures would be taken.
"There is no reason to increase security. They did not escape from a security complex, it happened at court," Balfour said.
The 20 accused would be treated the same as other prisoners.
"There will be no more or no less focus on them."
Balfour said the two had escaped on the police's watch, not that of his department.
"I want to make it clear that it was not my people who took the Boeremag trialists to court."
He said he had received phone calls from people asking him why correctional services had let the two escape, and had had to explain the men were under police supervision when they escaped.
'Some of the accused are highly dangerous'
Balfour said he did not have all the details of the escape, but pleaded with judges not to ask officials to remove the prisoners' handcuffs and leg-irons.
"If it was us or if it was the police... we know the risk profile of the people we take care of. Some are highly dangerous," said Balfour.
"I hope the police get those two guys back. They must face the music like anyone else," he said.
SAPA
Herman van Rooyen, 33, alleged to be the man bankrolling the organisation, and Rudi Gouws, 28, escaped from the court holding cells during the lunch break.
Van Rooyen apparently has access to a R40m inheritance. He was arrested in Pretoria in December 2002 in a bakkie rigged with 384kg of explosives and two bags of nuts and bolts for shrapnel.
Judge Eben Jordaan gave no indication on Thursday how the escape would influence the trial of the 20 accused still in custody.
He postponed the case to May 15 to give police a chance to catch Van Rooyen and Gouws.
Director Sally de Beer, national police spokesperson said: "We have set up a task team to look for them, but there are no new developments yet."
Police set up hotline
More than 24 hours after Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws disappeared from the court, it seems police are no closer to catching them.
De Beer said police had set up a hotline - 073 650 7502 - for anyone who might have seen the men or know where they are. She said, however: "We warn people not to confront these two as they are considered dangerous."
She said they might have disguised themselves after their pictures had been published in Thursday's newspapers. Henri Boshoff, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, said police would question and possibly watch friends and family of the two escaped men.
He said the two escapees would have to choose between lying low for a while or fleeing across the border.
"The questions are: do they have support and who would hide them?"
Boshoff said it was possible for the escapees to cross the border, but they would need people who sympathised with their cause to help them.
"You can walk across some parts of the border between here and Mozambique, for example, but what do you do when you are there? Someone would have to talk you and someone would have to receive you," he said.
No extra security, says minister
Meanwhile, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said the remaining accused would not be treated any differently and no extra security measures would be taken.
"There is no reason to increase security. They did not escape from a security complex, it happened at court," Balfour said.
The 20 accused would be treated the same as other prisoners.
"There will be no more or no less focus on them."
Balfour said the two had escaped on the police's watch, not that of his department.
"I want to make it clear that it was not my people who took the Boeremag trialists to court."
He said he had received phone calls from people asking him why correctional services had let the two escape, and had had to explain the men were under police supervision when they escaped.
'Some of the accused are highly dangerous'
Balfour said he did not have all the details of the escape, but pleaded with judges not to ask officials to remove the prisoners' handcuffs and leg-irons.
"If it was us or if it was the police... we know the risk profile of the people we take care of. Some are highly dangerous," said Balfour.
"I hope the police get those two guys back. They must face the music like anyone else," he said.
SAPA