Prinsloo's desperate life on the run
21 June 2009, 07:15
By Eleanor Momberg and Peter Fabricius
Alleged paedophile and bank robber Dirk Prinsloo led an itinerant life in the three years he was on the run from Interpol.
Prinsloo, who skipped bail in 2005 during a court-approved business trip to Russia while on trial for alleged sex crimes in Pretoria, apparently regularly travelled between the Russian capital, Moscow, Belarus, Latvia, New Zealand and Australia.
Crime Stoppers International said Prinsloo, who was nabbed by Belarusian investigators last week after a botched bank robbery, had lived in Australia under an assumed name. He was said to have several interests there.
Bodybuilding clubs in Australia had asked members to be on the lookout for "Dirk Prinsloo, a South African wanted for various crimes including 15 counts of drugging and sexually assaulting children".
Crime Stoppers, in its most-wanted-fugitives notice of June 1, said Prinsloo, 39, was "likely to be active in bodybuilding wherever he is in Australia" as he was "a narcissistic bodybuilding fanatic".
The former Pretoria advocate had become the subject of an Interpol Red Notice after he fled South Africa, where he faced charges of rape, indecent assault, fraud and possession of child pornography.
He rented a flat in Baranovichi, 160km from the Belarusian capital Minsk, and often travelled to the town of Soligorsk and Minsk, said Julia Askaldovich, a senior member of the police investigation team. Baranovichi is billed on the internet as the "City of Brides", with several websites advertising mail-order brides.
Prinsloo was arrested in Minsk on June 12. He looked different from what he used to: he was unshaven, his hair was longer and dyed brown, and he had put on weight.
Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Starikovich, head of the Interpol national central bureau in Belarus, said three men, one of them identified as Prinsloo, held up tellers at a bank in Baranovichi at 2pm on June 10. The would-be robbers were armed with a toy pistol and a knife, but the tellers fought back and arrested two while the third fled.
"Witnesses in the bank and outside identified Prinsloo and indicated his place of residence. The persons near the bank saw this person take off his mask and it was established that this man rented an apartment near the bank," said Starikovich.
A preliminary charge of attempted armed robbery was put to Prinsloo in his holding cell in Baranovichi on Thursday.
"When the police put the case to him he said: 'Yes, I agree that I committed an attempted robbery'," Starikovich said. "For this crime he can face a penalty of three to 10 years in prison.
"After serving this possible sentence the general prosecutor's office will consider extradition. After the investigation and sentence are complete, the extradition should not be a problem."
More than a week after his arrest, Prinsloo has not received any consular assistance from the South African embassy in Moscow because the embassy has been unable to establish that he is a South African.
Consular officials in Moscow are still trying to establish his nationality, according to Nomfanelo Kota, spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Forensics experts and a crack team of investigators lifted a "large number" of Prinsloo's fingerprints and shoeprints from the crime scene and a 10-year-old boy supplied police with a clear identikit of Prinsloo. The fugitive's identity was confirmed by Interpol.
Of the arrest of one of the world's most wanted men, Starikovich said: "We were just doing our job and the result is because of the work with Interpol's general secretariat and other departments. We are very happy."
Askaldovich said: "Being arrested was a real shock for him."
According to the police, Prinsloo was an illegal immigrant in Belarus and was apparently travelling on a false passport. That is part of the investigation, which is also focusing on whether he was involved in other crimes in the region.
Cezanne Visser, Prinsloo's former lover, is relieved that Prinsloo has been caught at last. Her advocate, Johann Engelbrecht SC, said Visser's family were "happy that they no longer have to look over their shoulders to see whether he is lurking somewhere".
Alleged paedophile and bank robber Dirk Prinsloo led an itinerant life in the three years he was on the run from Interpol.
Prinsloo, who skipped bail in 2005 during a court-approved business trip to Russia while on trial for alleged sex crimes in Pretoria, apparently regularly travelled between the Russian capital, Moscow, Belarus, Latvia, New Zealand and Australia.
Crime Stoppers International said Prinsloo, who was nabbed by Belarusian investigators last week after a botched bank robbery, had lived in Australia under an assumed name. He was said to have several interests there.
Bodybuilding clubs in Australia had asked members to be on the lookout for "Dirk Prinsloo, a South African wanted for various crimes including 15 counts of drugging and sexually assaulting children".
Crime Stoppers, in its most-wanted-fugitives notice of June 1, said Prinsloo, 39, was "likely to be active in bodybuilding wherever he is in Australia" as he was "a narcissistic bodybuilding fanatic".
The former Pretoria advocate had become the subject of an Interpol Red Notice after he fled South Africa, where he faced charges of rape, indecent assault, fraud and possession of child pornography.
He rented a flat in Baranovichi, 160km from the Belarusian capital Minsk, and often travelled to the town of Soligorsk and Minsk, said Julia Askaldovich, a senior member of the police investigation team. Baranovichi is billed on the internet as the "City of Brides", with several websites advertising mail-order brides.
Prinsloo was arrested in Minsk on June 12. He looked different from what he used to: he was unshaven, his hair was longer and dyed brown, and he had put on weight.
Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Starikovich, head of the Interpol national central bureau in Belarus, said three men, one of them identified as Prinsloo, held up tellers at a bank in Baranovichi at 2pm on June 10. The would-be robbers were armed with a toy pistol and a knife, but the tellers fought back and arrested two while the third fled.
"Witnesses in the bank and outside identified Prinsloo and indicated his place of residence. The persons near the bank saw this person take off his mask and it was established that this man rented an apartment near the bank," said Starikovich.
A preliminary charge of attempted armed robbery was put to Prinsloo in his holding cell in Baranovichi on Thursday.
"When the police put the case to him he said: 'Yes, I agree that I committed an attempted robbery'," Starikovich said. "For this crime he can face a penalty of three to 10 years in prison.
"After serving this possible sentence the general prosecutor's office will consider extradition. After the investigation and sentence are complete, the extradition should not be a problem."
More than a week after his arrest, Prinsloo has not received any consular assistance from the South African embassy in Moscow because the embassy has been unable to establish that he is a South African.
Consular officials in Moscow are still trying to establish his nationality, according to Nomfanelo Kota, spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Forensics experts and a crack team of investigators lifted a "large number" of Prinsloo's fingerprints and shoeprints from the crime scene and a 10-year-old boy supplied police with a clear identikit of Prinsloo. The fugitive's identity was confirmed by Interpol.
Of the arrest of one of the world's most wanted men, Starikovich said: "We were just doing our job and the result is because of the work with Interpol's general secretariat and other departments. We are very happy."
Askaldovich said: "Being arrested was a real shock for him."
According to the police, Prinsloo was an illegal immigrant in Belarus and was apparently travelling on a false passport. That is part of the investigation, which is also focusing on whether he was involved in other crimes in the region.
Cezanne Visser, Prinsloo's former lover, is relieved that Prinsloo has been caught at last. Her advocate, Johann Engelbrecht SC, said Visser's family were "happy that they no longer have to look over their shoulders to see whether he is lurking somewhere".
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Sunday Independent on June 21, 2009
Pretoria
