Stander, the film about bank robber André Charles Stander, was filmed in Johannesburg and Durban in 2002 and released in 2003. Stander was a South African Police Captain turned bank robber. The 37 year old Captain was the son of Major-General Frans Stander and at first he robbed banks on the South Coast on his own. While in Zonderwater prison he met Allan George Heyl and Patrick Lee McCall. They were known as the Stander Gang and between October 1983 and January 1984, embarked on a 20-bank robbery spree in and around Johannesburg. During this time they stole about R700 000.
The politically correct film was a joint South African, British, Canadian and German venture. It was nominated for a Genie award in 2005, Canada's version of the Oscar, for Best Achievement in Direction. Canadian Bronwen Hughes directed the film, which was scripted by South African Bima Stagg. Stander is played by the American actor, Thomas Jane, and Stander's wife, Bekkie, is played by the Vancouver-born actress, Deborah Kara Unger. South African actress Fiona Ramsey was their voice coach. The film makers spoke to Heyl, who was still in prison; Corrie van Deventer, Stander's police partner; and the warden of the prison where he was held. The film suggests that Stander's turn-about comes after a riot in Tembisa in 1976 in which he shoots an unarmed black man. It goes on to suggest that Stander was not stealing for himself, but to pay back the black people. The scene in which Stander apologises for having been part of the police in 1976, did not take place in real life.
Stander was killed in Fort Lauderdale, US, in February 1984 while McCall committed suicide at the gang's hideout in Sixth Ave, Lower Houghton on 27 January 1984 during a police raid. Heyl escaped to Greece shortly afterwards, posing as a German. In 1985 he was jailed for a bank robbery in Britain, and in 1992 he was deported to South Africa where he was found guilty of 41 charges that included armed robbery, car theft, the unlawful possession of firearms and escaping from jail. He was released on parole in May 2005.
Stander's only child, Ernie Amos, was born after a brief liaison that Stander had with student teacher Pat Amos during a 1972 break in his two marriages to his wife, Leoni (Bekkie). Amos was 21 when he found out who his father was. Today he is a gospel guitarist and a professional golfer. He recently finished a gospel rock CD entitled Run To You. Marlene Henn was the arms dealer who was shot several times by the gang when they robbed her shop in Randburg in November 1983. She doesn't believe that Stander was killed and claims that she was not asked to testify against Heyl. According to Heyl, it was McCall who shot Henn, and not him. Henn claims that Stander never went to the US and that the first set of fingerprints sent back to South Africa went missing. The second set was his. Only his ashes were sent back to South Africa. Michael von Stetina was the American policeman who shot Stander in Fort Lauderdale. He received death threats from South Africa and received police protection for some time.
Trix Style was one of the Trust Bank cashiers who was held up by Stander. She has said that she was not afraid of Stander, even though he pointed a weapon at her, but that she afraid of McCall.
Heyl said that it was the prostitutes who visited the Houghton house that tipped off the police. He left the house after the domestic servant warned him, but McCall did not take heed of the warning. According to Heyl, Stander despised his police colleagues and believed they were all corrupt. Heyl matriculated from Hoërskool Hentie Cilliers in Virginia and enrolled for a teaching degree in Bloemfontein. He dropped out in his last year. He was 21 when he served his first jail sentence. Dr Irma Labuschagne, the respected criminologist, prepared his evaluation report for his parole application last year. She believes he won't commit a crime again. Heyl (53) was released from the Krugersdorp prison in May 2005. One of his parole conditions prevents him from speaking to the media, without police permission.
Retired Brig. Manie van der Linde, a former Brixton murder and robbery unit commander, was involved in the Stander Gang investigation, interviewing Stander during his incarceration in Brixton. He said it was Stander's desire for a life of luxury that led him to crime.
Stander won the Best Recruit award after completing his training at the Police College in 1964. At the age of 31, he was an officer and commander of the Kempton Park criminal investigation unit. In 1977 he started robbing banks. On his days off, he'd leave a stolen car at Jan Smuts airport and fly to Durban, rob a bank or two and fly back the same day. He was a master of disguise and always picked out the prettiest cashier to rob. While working alone he stole about R100 000.
He was living in a luxurious house in Pomona, Kempton Park, when noe retired Gen. Basie Smit led the investigation team and arrested Stander at the airport in January 1980. Corrie van Deventer, Stander's police partner and best friend, had opened a souvenir shop in Durban with Stander. Van Deventer didn't know it then, but the shop was used to launder Stander's money. It was at a jovial party that Stander slipped up and bragged to van Deventer about his exploits. Van Deventer was working for Smit and this led to Stander's arrest.
Stander was found guilty on 28 charges of armed robbery and sentenced to 75 years in jail, of which he had to serve 17. He was sent to Zonderwater, but escaped on 11 August 1983 with McCall, having claimed to be hurt and escaping during a visit to a physiotherapist near Cullinan. Two months later they helped Heyl escape from the Olifantsfontein prison workshop. In January 1984, Stander bought the yacht, Lily Rose at the Royal Yacht Club in Cape Town. Using a disguise and a false passport, he flew to Fort Lauderdale on 27 January. The yacht was to be delivered to him in the US. On the 10 February, Stander was arrested in Fort Lauderdale for driving his second-hand Ford Mustang without a license. He was released after claiming to be an Australian writer named Peter Harris. That night, he broke into the police pound and took his car back. The police surrounded his apartment, where he arrived late at night on a bicycle. A tussle with Michael von Stetina followed and Stander was shot dead. Shortly before his death, his police uniform was sold at an auction for R15.
In October 1992, Stander's former wife, Leoni (42), then a well-known businesswoman in Pretoria, shot herself at her home office in Kilner Park. She was married to Victor Venter, who rushed her to the H.F. Verwoerd Hospital where she died. She had been depressed for a few years. Leoni had divorced Stander but the couple later re-married.
Paul Moorcraft and Mike Cohen, journalists, wrote a book, Stander - Bank Robber, which was published in 1984. The Afrikaans singer, Piet Botha, son of former Foreign Affairs Minister Pik Botha, wrote a song shortly after Stander's death entitled Fort Lauderdale.
