For four years, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been trying to prosecute suspected murderers Arthur Burns and Kabelo Shiloane, the two men who managed to get away with R3m that happened to be in the vehicle they robbed in Centurion.

Since their arrest in 2015, the case has repeatedly stalled, often because of Burns’s continuously declining health. When the matter was set down for trial last week, it appeared as though the long-awaited case was finally ready to start...