Correctional services minister Groenewald under fire over 'missing prisoners' at Pollsmoor
MP Nicholas Gotsell, the DA's National Council of Provinces (NCOP) member on security and justice, is demanding answers as to how two of them, convicted of rape and murder, were no longer in custody despite a high court order they be detained at the prison.
Gotsell said three suspects were sentenced to detention for violent crimes and detained at the Horizon Child and Youth Centre due to their age. They were transferred to Pollsmoor Juvenile Centre in July 2024 after violently assaulting a staff member with a sharp object.
' Despite being sentenced prisoners, they were later transported to the Blue Downs magistrate's court on new assault charges. Legally they were remand detainees for that purpose only — but as sentenced prisoners, they should have been returned to Pollsmoor thereafter.
'Instead, they vanished,' said Gotsell.
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