As the cliché goes: the matter would be laughable if it were not so serious.
The alleged members of the Rosetteville cash-in-transit heist gang are reported to have complained to their lawyers, making ludicrous statements.
In one, they objected to being imprisoned at the C-Max maximum prison at the Kgosi Mampuru Prison in Tshwane. They said they should have been jailed at the Johannesburg Correction Centre.
They are also reportedly not “happy“ that they are locked up with already sentenced offenders and not with other awaiting-trial prisoners. But since when have alleged criminals - dangerous ones at that - have the ”right“ to complain about where the state must keep them?
By all accounts, these men were allegedly part of a heavily armed dangerous gang which engaged in a shoot-out with the police an incident that left eight of them dead and two policemen injured. Now they have the gall and arrogance to question where they are jailed?
They are at C-Max precisely because the circumstances of their arrest point out that they are very dangerous and should be treated as very high risk. And what difference does it make that they are kept with already convicted felons?
Clearly they want to be housed in the less secure/strict sections of the prison where ordinary awaiting-trial prisoners are kept. Why? So that they can increase their chances of escaping? The presumption of innocence until proven guilty should be observed but it is sheer madness to accommodate demands of such alleged dangerous criminals.
Dr Thabisi Hoeane Pretoria