Security tight as jailbreak escapee appears in court
Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday January 25, 2017 16:51
Gaomodimo Molosiwa (27) was nabbed at the Aerodrome location last week following a serious manhunt by the police in conjunction with members of the public.
The accused and his co-accomplices, who are charged with two counts of robbery, were brought to court in a fortified mini prisons bus. A police car that was flashing emergency lights and screaming sirens provided an escort to the mini bus.
A heavily armed tactical squad from the Special Support Group (SSG) patrolled the court premises.The police did not leave anything to chance and made sure that the alleged escapee will not pull a ‘Joaquin El Chapo Guzmán,’ on them this time around at court premises. Guzmán was the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, and a worldwide renowned Mexican drug king pin who escaped from jail on three occasions but was only captured after more than10 years on the run.
Molosiwa was appearing in court for two robbery cases that are not related to his recent alleged unlawful escape from custody. He was appearing in court before Chief Magistrate Gaedupe Makgatho for setting of trial dates in connection with two robbery cases that he allegedly committed in Tonota last year.
In one robbery case, the state alleges that Molosiwa together with Monkemedi Max, Botshwaro Gabanamotse and Newton James robbed Tselantle Ditshweu a laptop worth P5,900 in Tonota on April 2, 2016. The state also alleges that the quartet robbed Boikanyo Mpapho of electronic gadgets, among them a television set and camera worth P8,500 in Tonota on April 8, 2016.
Trial dates in the matter were set for March 1-3.
The prosecution said that Molosiwa, who is already serving a cumulative 38 years in jail for three separate robbery cases, will appear in court on February 3, in connection with a charge of allegedly escaping from jail. Molosiwa is not new to controversy.
He is also facing a charge of allegedly assaulting Mompoloki Gaboiphiwe, a prosecutor from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who was handling one of his cases last year after he briefly appeared in court.
Last week Friday, James, an accomplice of Molosiwa who was granted bail in connection with the two robbery cases that he and Molosiwa allegedly committed in Tonota, appeared in court to face a single count of allegedly harbouring Molosiwa after he escaped from lawful custody.
Molosiwa was arrested at James’ Aerodrome home following a tip-off after he escaped from jail.
The prosecution made a successful application before Magistrate Ishmael Molobe for James (36) to be remanded in custody in order to ascertain if he had a hand in helping the other 11 escaped prisoners who are still on the run to escape from lawful custody.