• A man who was on the run for nine years for possession of counterfeit money will spend seven years in prison.
• He had initially escaped custody while in court holding cells.
• He was rearrested in June before being returned to face charges again.

A man who was on the run for nine years for possession of counterfeit money has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Friday.

Mark Ezra was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara said.

Ezra pleaded guilty to possession of counterfeit money and escaping from custody.

He was initially arrested in January 2011 after he was found in possession of R231 600 in counterfeit R100 bank notes.

"He was taken into custody and brought to court. Then a few months later while in custody at the holding cells at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court (prior to his court appearance), he escaped. Ezra evaded authorities for nine years and was only rearrested in June 2020," Kara said.

The court sentenced him to three years imprisonment for possession of counterfeit money and six years imprisonment for escaping from custody.

"Two years from the possession charge is to run concurrently with the escaping charge resulting in the effective seven years imprisonment," said Kara.

She said the matter was successfully prosecuted by Regional Court Prosecutor Hazel Siraramen.