Serial rapist escapes - again

2006-11-20 00:18

Leila Magnus and Sapa

Pretoria - Barely a day after new security measures were introduced to curb the number of prison breaks during the Christmas period, a suspected serial rapist and multiple murderer has escaped from C-Max, reputedly one of the tightest prisons in South Africa.

Mozambican Annanias Mathe, who was arrested for rape, murder and hijacking, apparently got out of his C-Max prison cell by sawing through the bars with a hacksaw blade.

He appears to have climbed through various tiny windows after that and may have used a rope to lower himself on to a ledge before clambering over a roof and disappearing.

Mathe was in a section of the prison reserved for hardened criminals and those most likely to try to escape.

Plan to curb escapes

Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour was at the Mdantsane prison in the Eastern Cape on Friday to announce Operation Vala - the plan to curb escapes.

Vala is aimed at reducing the high number of attempted escape during the Christmas period.

One of the measures is to reduce the number of food parcels sent in by families, which are often used to smuggle illegal items to inmates.

Beeld was told that Mathe used just such an item, a hacksaw blade, in his escape.

The blade was not found during routine searches of his cell, even though Mathe would have taken weeks to saw through the bars.

Police and correctional services officers began a search for him near the prison and on the highways shortly after his escape on Saturday night.

Two previous escapes

Mathe, who has escaped twice before, is still at large.

In April last year he skipped after damaging the secure cell in which he was being held.

His next cell was right next to a staff officer, so that he could be kept under surveillance at all times, said Manelisi Wolela of the department of correctional services.

Police spokesperson inspector Anton Breedt said Mathe was awaiting trial on charges of murder, attempted murder, rape and theft.

He was sought in Gauteng, Free State and North West.

Wolela said an inquiry had been launched to find out if officers had been lax, or helped him to escape.

Other prison escapes

In November 2005, five prisoners serving multiple life sentences escaped from the maximum security section of Zonderwater Prison in a hostage drama. One was shot dead.

In November 2004, two prisoners overpowered and shot a prison chief and a warder at C-Max Prison in Pretoria, after a firearm had apparently been smuggled in. Both were shot dead.

Also in 2004, three men escaped from C-Max after they acquired a firearm and forced a warder into a car. They got out of the gates, but were recaptured shortly afterwards when they fled into nearby bush.

- Beeld