The 30-year-old Brighton Chauke is still behind bars and will remain there.

Chauke, who until his eventual capture was one of the Soutpansberg's most wanted criminals, appeared in the Louis Trichardt Regional Court on Monday.

For almost a year, Chauke evaded arrest after he managed to escape from the police's holding cells in Musina in October 2010. At the time of his escape he, along with his brother Shorty, was awaiting trial for a murder case in Musina, as well as a spate of armed robberies in Louis Trichardt. Shorty (41) has since been sentenced to 45 years imprisonment on the armed robbery charges.

Since his arrest, Chauke has been positively connected to a spate of violent armed robberies, housebreakings and attempted murders. The near-fatal attack on Messrs Jan Louw (49) and Ferdie Landman (19) on 28 May of last year is included among these attacks. It has also come to light that Chauke has indeed been positively connected to the murder of the 51-year-old Mr Eric Neshunzhi on the farm Goedehoop on July 1.

During Monday’s appearance, Chauke appeared on the three charges of armed robbery on which his brother had been convicted. These charges relate to three robberies in April 2009 at three different businesses in Louis Trichardt. Of these, one was caught on security cameras.

The State asked for a provisional trial date on Monday,  in order to finalise all the charges against Brighton. An additional ten charges could be added to the current charges.

Brighton will appear in court again on 6 March.