G4s Record Heist Bid Suspect Gets Bail

Werner Menges

27 May 2011

The only suspect who has remained in Police custody in connection with an attempted heist in which a record N$24 million was almost stolen from a security company’s premises in Windhoek two years ago was granted bail of N$2 000 yesterday.

Augustinus Balzer, a former security officer with the security company G4S, has spent the past two years in custody before being granted bail.

Magistrate Sarel Jacobs granted bail to Balzer after his trial, which was scheduled to start in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday, was instead postponed to Monday to give the Office of the Prosecutor General more time decide whether the prosecution against Balzer and two co-accused will be continued with.

Balzer and Windhoek residents Charlie Swartz and Christiaan Mukoko are charged with a count of robbery with aggravating circumstances after a failed attempt to steal some N$24 million from G4S premises in Windhoek on May 25 2009. If the gang of armed robbers that targeted the premises had managed to get away with the money, it would have been the biggest amount of money yet to have been stolen in an armed robbery in Namibia.

The heist was a failure, though, with the robbers fleeing from the scene when they were confronted by a guard.

A bakkie that was left behind at the scene put the Police on the trail of a Windhoek resident, Claudius Stuurman, who was an uncle of Balzer.

Stuurman (54) allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself before the Police could get hold of him.

In a suicide note that he is alleged to have left behind he is claimed to have implicated the three charged men in connection with the robbery attempt.

Swartz and Mukoko were granted bail in an amount of N$10 000 each on June 17 2009. Balzer remained in custody, with a bail application by him turned down in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in July 2009, an appeal against that ruling being dismissed in the High Court in May last year, and a second bail application being refused in the Regional Court early last month.

Public Prosecutor Petrus Grusshaber told Magistrate Jacobs yesterday that the prosecution is again studying the Police docket on the case to decide whether to proceed with the charges against the three men.

The case was postponed to Monday.

Defence lawyer Kaijata Kangueehi is representing Balzer, with Andre Louw appearing for Mukoko and Evert Gous representing Swartz.

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