It’s hard enough bringing someone to trial in this country with the massive backlog in our court system, so you’d think that once authorities have a hit man due his day in court they’d take certain precautions.

Not in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Jozi, however, after Radovan Krejcir’s go-to hit man managed to escape in a set of circumstances that resemble a poorly written Police Academy movie.

These details below from TimesLive:

…28-year-old Kagiso Ledwaba – the convicted killer of German supercar dealer Uwe Gemballa – was able to get hold of a gun as he appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.

After being taken down to the holding cells he held up and disarmed the cell commander. He grabbed a set of keys, which he used to unlock several doors before escaping in a waiting car.

Hang on, how does a convicted killer come to get hold of a gun inside a magistrate’s court? I think I smell a rat, although we can rest easy because the police are all over it:

Police have not released an official statement concerning the escape but have responded to queries from The Times, saying they viewed the escape in a “serious light”.

But Institute for Security Studies policing specialist Johan Burger questioned why the police had not been proactive. He said given Ledwaba’s high profile, one would have thought they would have had his picture “all over the media”.

“This is very out of character given the new approach to policing by acting national police commissioner [Lieutenant- General Khomotso Phahlane]. Whichever way it goes we can expect a public response from him quite soon.”

Justice department officials suspect police officers were involved in ensuring Ledwaba got hold of a gun.

“It’s embarrassing. Now that it’s out, there’s hell to pay. This guy is not a small fry [or] petty crook. He’s a killer who works for international organised crime networks,” a crime intelligence source said.

A court security guard said: “Security checks are not being done. He walked into court with the others and then left. Next we hear he’s free. The cops are completely blind. How does he get a gun? It couldn’t have happened before he came in because there are too many checks. It would have to happen in court. Those closest to the prisoners are the police. How else do you explain how he got the gun?”

But wait, there’s more. Apparently Ledwaba arrived with a bag and the police couldn’t be arsed to search it:

“They left him alone, he was seen uncuffing himself, taking his firearm and attacking the other policeman. The security officers at the entrance were not alerted and the accused left smoothly, pretending to be one of the members of the public,” Mhaga said…

Mark Shaw, director of Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, said the Krejcir case had consistently demonstrated levels of corruption among police.

Tell us something we don’t know Mark. Just another convicted criminal roaming the streets due to police ineptitude and corruption then…

[source:timeslive]