André Charles Stander (22 November 1946 – 13 February 1984) was a South African criminal and policeman. One of the most infamous

bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank ...

s in South Africa's history, Stander was notorious for the audacious manner with which he carried out his crimes; he sometimes carried out the crime on his lunch break, often returning to the scene as an investigating officer.The police officer turned bank robber
at

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Stander was portrayed by American actor

Thomas Jane Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; February 22, 1969) is an American actor. Born and raised in Maryland, Jane's film career started with the Telugu-language romantic comedy '' Padamati Sandhya Ragam'' (1987). His other early films included ...

in the 2003 film '' Stander''.

Police career

The son of a prominent figure in the South African Prison Service, Major General Francois Jacobus Stander (1916–2001), André was under pressure from an early age to pursue a career in law enforcement. He enrolled at the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...

training college near

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

in 1963, graduating at the top of his class. Shortly afterwards he joined the Kempton Park criminal investigation department.

Criminal activities

Robberies

In 1977, Stander flew to

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

and robbed his first bank. Between 1977 and 1980, he is believed to have stolen nearly a hundred thousand rand. After robbing nearly 20 banks, Stander was arrested and sentenced to 75 years in prison on 6 May 1980. However, since many of the charges in the sentence ran concurrently, he faced an actual sentence of 17 years. Stander met

Allan Heyl George Allan Heyl (died April 17, 2020) was a South African criminal, member of the Andre Stander, Stander Gang. Heyl met his accomplices André Stander and Lee McCall in 1977, while they were in prison together (Heyl had been sentenced in 1977 ...

and Lee McCall at the Zonderwater maximum security prison.

Motivation

After his first trial, Stander claimed that his disillusionment with police service stemmed from a prior incident when he and his fellow officers shot and killed 176 unarmed schoolchildren during the 1976

Soweto uprising The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from various schools began to p ...

. However, Stander was not present with the police contingent at

Thembisa Thembisa, formerly Tembisa, is a large township situated to the north of Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandra and other areas in Edenvale, Kempton Park, ...

when the shooting of unarmed schoolchildren took place. Other accounts have suggested that Stander, who completed his national service in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

during the

South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...

, may have also been bored with civilian life and craved the excitement afforded by a life of crime.

Stander Gang

On 11 August 1983, Stander and McCall, along with five other inmates, were taken from the prison's premises for a

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

appointment. Once the prisoners were left alone with the physiotherapist, Stander and McCall overpowered her and escaped. The other prisoners refused to participate and stayed behind.The Stander Gang
Stander and McCall returned to Zonderwater on 31 October 1983, in order to spring Allan Heyl from the facility where he was taking a trade test. From that day until the end of January 1984, the three began robbing banks together, under the

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

of the Stander Gang – a term coined by the news media. McCall was killed on 30 January 1984, in a police raid on the gang's hide-out in

Houghton Estate Houghton Estate, often simply called Houghton, is an affluent suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, north-east of the city centre. The area was designated for white residents as part of the Group Areas Act during the apartheid era and became kno ...

. Heyl fled to Greece, then England, then Spain, and eventually back to England, where he was caught, tried, and sentenced to nine years in prison for robbery and a related firearms charge. After serving his time in the UK, he was extradited back to South Africa where he was sentenced to a further 33 years in prison. Heyl was released on parole on 18 May 2005. While police were closing in on McCall in South Africa, Stander had been in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, trying to arrange for the sale of the gang's recently purchased sailing yacht—the ''Lilly Rose''—that they planned to use for their final getaway once they had acquired enough money.

Florida and death

While Stander remained in the United States, international arrest warrants and all points bulletins were issued for his arrest. Trying to make the best of the situation, Stander created the false identity of an Australian author named "Peter Harris" and forged a driver's license. Afterwards, he visited a used car lot and purchased a 1973 Ford Mustang from a dealer named Anthony Tomasello. On 10 February 1984, police pulled Stander over while he was driving and arrested him for driving an unregistered vehicle. Being relatively unknown to the American authorities at that time, Stander presented his false ID to the police, who recognized it as a forgery and subsequently seized it—adding driver's license forgery to his list of offenses—but believed his story about his identity and released him. Once released on the same evening, Stander returned to the police impound lot where his seized Mustang was being kept, broke in and stole the car. On the following morning, Stander returned to the same used car lot where he had purchased the vehicle and asked the same dealer, Tomasello, to have the car re-painted in a different colour. However, Tomasello had just read about the Stander Gang in a local newspaper. He told Stander that he would help him, got his information, and as soon as Stander had left, Tomasello called his lawyer. On his lawyer's advice, Tomasello called the local police. Based on Tomasello's information, a police tactical unit surrounded the apartment that Stander had been using as a hideout, but Stander was not there. He had acquired a bicycle to use while his car was with Tomasello to be repainted. He had left the apartment on the bicycle and returned only after the police had surrounded it. As he unknowingly rode up to the apartment complex, officer Michael van Stetina—who had been posted on the perimeter—recognised Stander and attempted to stop him. Stander tried to get away, but as Stetina prevented his escape a struggle for the officer's shotgun began. The gun discharged and blew a hole on the wall of a house. Stander was not hit; he ran while carrying the shotgun and stopped in the driveway of the neighboring house and was shot by police when he pointed the shotgun at them. He fell onto the driveway, bleeding profusely. Stetina immediately radioed for an ambulance. Although officer Stetina tried to administer first aid, Stander's wounds were too extensive and he bled to death before an ambulance arrived.

References

External links

"Stander Gang"
– ''Carte Blanche''

– ''Famous South African Crimes'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stander, Andre 1946 births 1984 deaths Afrikaner people People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Florida Police officers convicted of robbery South African bank robbers South African police officers convicted of crimes South African prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of South Africa