Serial prison escapee Bongani Moyo back in court

Johannesburg - Closing arguments and judgment in the case against alleged serial escapee Bongani Moyo are expected in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

At his last appearance in May, the court heard Moyo was not in the court's holding cells shortly before his escape from the building in August last year.

His two co-accused in a robbery case being heard in the same court, Khumbulani Sibanda and Thabani Sibanda, said they were put in a holding cell inside the court premises while Moyo was left sitting on a bench near the cell.

He allegedly escaped by walking out of the court on crutches.

Moyo testified last month that he escaped because investigating officer Frederick Erasmus threatened to kill him. Erasmus denied Moyo's allegations.

Moyo, along with Khumbulani and a third person, face another charge of attempting to escape from the Pretoria Central prison earlier this year. The three used prison overalls to scale a perimeter wall.

Their bid for freedom was botched when a street vendor spotted the trio jumping from the roof of the double-storey prison building. He alerted prison warders.

In March last year, Moyo escaped from the Boksburg prison where he was detained for bank robberies.

He was recaptured at the Beitbridge border post almost three months later when he re-entered South Africa from Zimbabwe. 

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