Dirk Prinsloo Dirk Prinsloo
Pretoria - Disgraced former advocate Dirk Prinsloo, who was sentenced to serve a 13-year jail term in Belarus, said he feared returning home to face trial because “no one can give him an objective and fair trial in South Africa”.
The SAPS is working to have Prinsloo return to South Africa for trial.
In a short online conversation with the Pretoria News, he refused to comment on where he was or what his situation was. However, he earlier told the Rapport newspaper that he “was a free man who can walk around freely”.
In the communication, Prinsloo told the Pretoria News “there might be interesting developments in future”. Thereafter, he said he may then officially comment on his situation.
He said he was never given a fair deal in South Africa and was aggrieved by the fact that he was referred to as an alleged paedophile in the country’s media despite the fact that he was never convicted on any of the charges.
Prinsloo was standing trial alongside his then-girlfriend Cezanne Visser, known as “Advocate Barbie", at the time.
He left her in the cold and never returned to South African to face the charges against him.
He was at the time given permission by the court to travel to Russia. However, he did not return despite a warrant for his arrest.
He was subsequently arrested in Belarus in 2010 following a foiled robbery attempt of a bank in the landlocked Eastern Europe country and jailed for 13 years.
He was placed on parole and then held in a cell in that country’s migration department. However, it remains uncertain what his exact situation is.
SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo earlier told Independent Media that “there is a warrant out for his arrest and we are engaging with the Belarus government with the assistance of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation”.
He added that there was no need for South Africa to alert Interpol as Prinsloo was still in custody in Belarus and unable to leave that country.
Visser was convicted on 11 charges in 2011 relating to sexual deeds with children and sentenced to seven years in jail. She was released on parole in August 2013 and is now married.
During her high-profile lengthy trial in the late 2000s, she blamed everything on Prinsloo. She told the court “he made her do it” as he was her “sex god” and she was “under his spell”.
Visser testified: “Kinky sex was as normal as brushing teeth.”
The bulk of the charges against the two related to deeds performed on two orphans - 11 and 14 at the time - whom they took for a weekend visit to their upmarket Centurion home.
Prinsloo was never convicted on any of these charges as he had absconded. It is understood that if he is forced to return to South Africa, he might have to answer to the charges.