Prinsloo wants to write a book
2009-06-29 10:13
Johannesburg - Dirk Prinsloo, the alleged child sex criminal, is planning to write a book about his time behind bars in Belarus, where he was arrested after a botched bank robbery.
"When he's released he wants to publish a book about his life in Belarus, the police there and his time in prison," Julia Askaldovich, a senior investigating officer, told the newspaper Intex-Press.
According to her, Prinsloo believes the "big fuss" made by the South African media about his arrest will make the book a hit.
Prinsloo is apparently still upset about the fact that he doesn't have access to hot showers and a cellphone in the cell where he's being held temporarily before his trial, which is expected to start in two months.
Assaulted bank employees
"Our law does not require special facilities for detainees," said Askaldovich.
Prinsloo refused to give an interview to Belarusian journalists when they visited him in his cell. The only thing he was willing to say was that he finds himself in "a very difficult situation".
One of the bank cashiers who was at work when Prinsloo allegedly stormed into the Baranovichi branch of Belarus Bank, armed with a toy gun, a knife and a can of gas spray, has for the first time related how scared she'd been when she was confronted by him.
Valentina Drozd told Beeld's correspondent in Baranovichi, Lyudmila Prokopova: "I remember begging him not to shoot. He spoke Russian, but only in single-syllable words.
"He wanted us to unlock the safe and the ATM, but we told him we don't have the keys. He beat me so badly that the whole left side of my face was black and blue."
He then assaulted another bank employee in a hallway, related Drozd.
Unconscious
"I jumped over the counter and ran to the post office, where I asked them to phone the police. When I returned to the bank after five minutes, I found my colleague unconscious under the ATM. She was lying in a pool of blood."
Drozd, who has been working in banking for 25 years, took leave after the incident. She said she can't remember whether Prinsloo had been to the bank before. Prinsloo, his girlfriend Tatiana, and their one-year-old daughter, Ksenia, lived in a flat near the bank.
On Sunday, Rapport newspaper reported that Prinsloo had used the name Michael Grant in Belarus. Prinsloo apparently admitted guilt when he was first questioned by police.
