Maverick News

Cape Town killer detained again after early jail release due to paperwork fiasco

Awaiting trial prisoners outside their cell while being searched at Pollsmoor Prison during a raid on November 26, 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa. Several prison cells were searched, and a large number of illegal substances and objects were confiscated as part of National Festive Season Security Operation Plan. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

By Caryn Dolley

29 May 2025

Daily Maverick recently reported on how paperwork issues resulted in the early release of three sentenced Cape Town criminals. Days later, one of them, a murderer, was detained again. This suggests that he should not have been freed in the first place.

For roughly five months, Mikyle Mentoor was a free man.

But Mentoor, a convicted killer, should have been in jail.

Daily Maverick last week reported on how Mentoor and two other sentenced convicts — Xolani du Preez and Mi-Kayle Timmie — were separately released from prison in Cape Town due to paperwork issues.

It appears they were released prematurely as their jail sentences had not yet lapsed.

Read more: Paperwork problems and misinformation — how Cape Town murder and rape convicts ‘vanished’ from jail

The crux of this saga is that the Department of Correctional Services was apparently under the impression that Mentoor, Timmie and Du Preez were not sentenced convicts.

But they were.

And what has happened means that two murderers and a rapist were freed from custody before officially finishing their sentences or being paroled.

DA MP Nicholas Gotsell, who initially raised red flags about this saga, is still pushing for full answers on it — and accountability.

Behind bars and ‘being sought’

Daily Maverick first published an article on this matter on Thursday last week, 22 May 2025.

Two days later it emerged that Mentoor had again been detained.

Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed to Daily Maverick: “Mikyle Mentoor was arrested on Saturday, 24 May 2025, on a charge of murder.”

That murder charge appears to be one he was previously sentenced for.

Read more: Jailhouse rot — SA prisons plagued by a cellphones, cash, drugs, knives and alcohol smuggling hub

Mentoor’s detention means that as of this week, of the three prematurely released convicts, one has yet to be rearrested – Timmie.

Twigg told Daily Maverick that Timmie, whom he did not refer to by name, “is still being sought”.

On Wednesday, 28 May, Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo also confirmed to Daily Maverick that Mentoor had been “located” and was being held at the police station in the Cape Town suburb of Manenberg.

“The Department of Correctional Services cannot confirm at this stage where he will be detained as there are administrative processes that ought to be followed up,” Nxumalo said.

Awaiting trial prisoners outside their cell while being searched at Pollsmoor Prison during a raid. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

He did not mention anything about Timmie.

The whole saga points to apparent communication lapses between different state departments, including the DCS and the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Criminal context

Mentoor, Timmie and Du Preez were previously convicted of separate crimes and sentenced.

Daily Maverick has previously reported that due to their ages, they were initially detained in the Horizon Child and Youth Care Centre in the Cape Town suburb of Eerste River.

Mentoor is about 19 years old and was convicted of murder.

He should have remained at the Horizon centre until he turned 21, after which a five-year suspended sentence would have kicked in.

Read more: Murder of ‘stabbed, bitten’ Cape Town inmate probed, Mangaung jail killing ‘cover-up’ exposed

Timmie, now about 19, was previously sentenced to five years in jail in a rape case linked to Paarl, and was meant to remain at the Horizon centre until he turned 21.

And Du Preez, also about 19, was convicted for the November 2022 murder of make-up artist Suritha Alting, 28, in the Cape Town suburb of Richwood.

He was sentenced to two years and 245 days at the Horizon centre, and after that was meant to spend another eight years behind bars.

While the three were detained at the Horizon youth facility, they faced assault allegations, which saw them transferred to a section of Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Correctional Centre.

This is where things appear to have gone awry.

Freed

A Western Cape Division of the High Court order resulted in Mentoor, Timmie and Du Preez’s transfer to Pollsmoor. (While Nxumalo on Wednesday told Daily Maverick it could not yet be confirmed where Mentoor would be held following his latest detention, the court order suggests it should be somewhere in Pollsmoor.)

According to Nxumalo, they were viewed as remand detainees — in other words, awaiting trial — and “there was no other document citing that the three have a conviction on a separate matter”.

Daily Maverick last week reported that each of the three subsequently appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court, presumably in relation to the Horizon assault matter.

They seem to have been freed from there instead of being sent back to Pollsmoor.

Nxumalo last week told Daily Maverick that the high court order (confirming the trio should be detained in Pollsmoor), which would have clarified that sentencing status, was sent to the Horizon centre but not to the department.

He said Mentoor did not return to Pollsmoor after a Blue Downs court appearance in December last year, while Timmie did not return after a court appearance in September, and Du Preez did not return in March this year.

Rearrested for robbery

Du Preez was key to questions being asked about the trio’s whereabouts.

This is because in April this year, a month after his release from custody, he was rearrested on suspicion of having been involved in a house robbery in the Cape Town suburb of Table View.

His rearrest coincided with when he should still have been serving his jail term for the murder case, so questions arose about that prison sentence.

This is what led to Gotsell getting involved.

He submitted questions, among others, to Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald.

Earlier this month Groenewald’s office told Gotsell that Mentoor, Timmie and Du Preez were being held in Pollsmoor’s Remand Detainee Centre.

Communication lapses

But this was clearly not the case.

Gotsell went to Pollsmoor himself and established that they were not there.

Du Preez and Mentoor’s rearrests emphasise that, as does the fact that the police now say they are looking for Timmie.

This means that Groenewald’s office was dealing with misinformation, which raises concerning questions about the whereabouts of other convicts thought to be serving jail sentences.

Last week Groenewald’s spokesperson Euné Oelofsen told Daily Maverick there was an investigation into the matter.

This week there was no updated response.

Meanwhile, Daily Maverick understands that after Du Preez’s rearrest last month and with questions surfacing about Mentoor and Timmie’s whereabouts, the police in the Western Cape were not officially notified that the latter two had not been detained and were basically missing.

It is clear now though, based on the response to Daily Maverick about Mentoor’s latest arrest and Timmie being sought, that police officers are aware of the situation.

‘Misleading and dangerous’

Last week, before Mentoor’s arrest, Gotsell persisted in highlighting the matter.

He issued a statement saying the Department of Correctional Service’s response to it was worrying.

“The narrative offered by the department is not only misleading — it’s dangerous,” he said. “Three sentenced offenders were lost in a system jointly managed by Justice, SAPS, and Correctional Services.

“These departments should be cooperating to urgently locate the missing inmates and then fix the breakdowns that enabled this.” DM

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