Police boss who turned into deadly gang leader

Tuesday, 27th September 2011

By Allan Olingo
They hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons — daring prison escapes, dramatic bank robberies and murders.
In the underworld, Andre Charles Stander, Patrick Lee McCall and Allan Heyl were heroes for their daring crimes.
Andre Stander was labelled the de facto gang leader of the Stander Gang. Sander’s father, Major-General Frans Stander, impressed upon his son to join the police force.
And in 1964, he excelled in the Police College in Pretoria, and was judged as the ‘Best Recruit’. Upon graduation, Stander was sent to Johannesburg where, as a brilliant detective, he rose rapidly through the ranks to become a captain and head the Kempton Park Criminal Investigation Department.
In 1977, despite a budding career, Stander started being discontented and he took to robbing banks. When on off duty, Stander, would fly to Durban, where he would hire or steal a car and then rob a bank. He would then fly back to Johannesburg.
Until 1980, Stander operated alone, hitting a string of banks. Police sources say that he could have made approximately R100,000 in the bank heists.
His first major undoing came in 1980 when he tried roping in his best friend and a fellow detective, Car van Deventer.
"He admitted to me that the first few times were sheer agony, but after that he couldn’t stop. He began to enjoy himself. He was laughing up his sleeve when he committed his robberies. There was an element of sadistic bullying," Van Deventer would later say.
Van Deventer informed a senior colleague about Stander’s confession and they set out an undercover mission. Together, they examined a hired car, which Stander had stolen and they found a number of wigs and a false beard and moustache. They didn’t take the items.
Under surveillanceOn January 2, 1980, Stander, who was under surveillance, was seen picking out items from the car and the next day, a Durban bank was robbed. Two days later, Stander flew into Johannesburg from Durban. He was arrested and a revolver, a false moustache and a beard and 4,000 rands were found on him.
On May 6, 1980, Stander was charged with 28 counts of robbery. He was found guilty on 15 counts and sentenced to a total of 75 years in prison.
Stander was sent to Zonderwater Maximum Security Prison where he met Patrick Lee McCall and Allan Heyl.
On August 11, 1983, Stander and McCall escaped from custody while out to see a physiotherapist. They overpowered the guards and sped off with their revolvers.
Stander and McCall went underground for two months but on October 31, 1983, the two men burst into the Olifantsfontein Trade Test Centre and with guns drawn, released a fellow inmate Allan Heyl, who had been taken there for a trade test.
Ten days later, Stander, McCall and Heyl raided a gun shop and made away with an arsenal of heavy calibre guns and ammunition. Operating from at least three locations within the Johannesburg area, the trio went on a spree of ‘bank-hopping’ robberies in which they hit a string of banks in quick succession, sometimes as many as four on the same day.
According to police, between mid-November 1983 and mid January 1984, the Stander Gang robbed 20 banks and stole over 500,000 Rands. For instance, on January 19, they netted 165,000 rands from three jobs.
Panic flightWith police hot on their heals, the trio soon realised time was running out. On January 27, 1984, Stander flew to the USA using a false passport for a ship purchase deal.
Back in South Africa, in the early hours of January 30, 1984, a crack police squad gunned down McCall at one of their safe houses.
On February 10, Stander made a fatal mistake while in America. He was arrested by the police for driving an unlicensed vehicle and for forging a driver’s licence. The police impounded the car and that evening, Stander broke into the police pound and stole the car back again. The next day an elite tactical impact team surrounded Stander’s apartment. When he attempted to escape, he was shot and bled to death.
After McCall’s death, Heyl left for Greece and later UK where he was arrested, for illegal possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to serve nine years.
Heyl was released in the mid 1990s and extradited to South Africa where he was imprisoned on robbery charges.