By Johnathan Paoli
A former Ekurhuleni metro police officer has joined two co-accused in the dock in a case linked to the alleged robbery of precious stones worth nearly R15 million from a Johannesburg apartment.
Kersha-Leigh Stols appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after handing herself over to police at the Edenvale police station on Monday.
She will return to court on 16 July with suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department officer Adrian Mackenzie and Titen Security Services CEO Etienne van der Walt for a formal bail application.
ALSO READ: SACP says migrant workers are not SA’s enemy, blames ‘capitalist crises’
The accused face charges including robbery with aggravating circumstances and fraud, with the State treating the robbery count as a Schedule 6 matter.
The National Prosecuting Authority alleges the accused were part of a group that carried out an armed raid at a Killarney apartment in Johannesburg on 11 February 2023.
The occupant, Pieter Prinsloo, was allegedly threatened before six boxes of high-grade sugilite and manganese stones, valued at about R14.9 million, were taken.
The State has said that EMPD officials had no jurisdiction to conduct an operation in Johannesburg and that no lawful authority existed for the raid.
The case has attracted widespread public attention following evidence presented before the Madlanga Commission by a former Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department officer known only as Witness K.
Witness K, who previously dated suspended EMPD Deputy Chief Julius Mkhwanazi, told the commission that she and Mkhwanazi planned the “operation” together and that it was intended from the outset to be a robbery disguised as an official police operation.
She testified that the stolen stones were later sold to a third party for R110,000, with the proceeds allegedly divided among those involved.
Stols’s surrender followed the earlier arrests of Mackenzie and Van der Walt in a case the Independent Police Investigative Directorate has been probing since 2023.
ALSO READ: Matlala to start Madlanga testimony next week
Stols, who resigned from the EMPD about a year ago after the investigation began, also allegedly sent a WhatsApp message to Witness K referring to IPID assistant director Thulani Magagula, who was investigating the matter, as “evil”.
According to information before investigators, the message further referred to alleged discussions with the Director of Public Prosecutions and claimed there were plans to have the matter “sorted out”, allegedly implying attempts to make the criminal case disappear.
Mackenzie, Van der Walt and Stols remain in custody while investigators continue searching for the remaining suspects.
