Leg irons cramp king of bling's style

The only piece of bling visible when William Mbatha appeared in the High Court in Johannesburg this week was a pair of leg irons.

The 37-year-old - who became known as the "king of bling" because of his penchant for expensive cigars and fast cars - is standing trail on a litany of offences including allegedly pretending to be a police officer.

He has pleaded not guilty to 24 charges, including robbery, kidnapping, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, pretending to be a police officer and unlawfully wearing a police uniform.

Mbatha, from Pretoria, stands accused of robbing some of his victims of cash and goods valued at over R1-million during a crime spree between 2008 and 2009.

On Friday, blaring sirens and heavily armed police signalled Mbatha's arrival at court. He was previously described as a flight risk.

Mbatha's defence counsel, Advocate Francois Roets, brought an application to call police officers who collected statements from some of Mbatha's alleged victims to testify. Acting Judge Naren Pandya turned down the application.

In December 2008, Mbatha allegedly assaulted Yubiao Cai, Andy Qinzhen, Merriam Mokgadi and Yun Cai and robbed them of over R250000 worth of goods, including a lady's watch, a silver necklace and two Silver Star Casino chips worth R100000.

Again in April 2009 Mbatha, this time allegedly posing as a policeman, stopped Ismail Yacoob Omar at an off-ramp in Alberton, east of Johannesburg. He allegedly forced Omar to take him to his home in Meyersdal where he assaulted him and stole laptops, cellphones and jewellery worth about R250000. That same month Mbatha allegedly assaulted Peter Mojapelo and hijacked his Mercedes-Benz and stole his ID, driver's licence, clothing and two cellphones, all worth over R700000.