|
'Houdini' back at C-Max
04/12/2006 12:45 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Annanias Mathe, the Mozambican prisoner who escaped from Pretoria's C-Max jail two weeks ago, was back at the country's most secure prison on Monday.
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour and Gauteng police commissioner Perumal Naidoo waited to see him locked up again when he was brought back to the prison after being treated for the gunshot wounds sustained when he was arrested.
Naidoo said security at C-Max, especially around Mathe, would be increased. "We know him to be a violent, dangerous criminal, we're so happy to have him back," he said.
Mathe was arrested after he stole a car with a tracking device from a house at Craighall Park, national police spokesperson director Sally de Beer said.
Stabbed in the face
"The tracking device on the vehicle was activated and the tracking company started to follow the vehicle, assisted by a helicopter," said De Beer.
Mathe abandoned the vehicle in Tembisa and fled on foot.
An employee of the tracking company, Altech Netstar, chased Mathe, who stabbed him in the face.
The employee then fired shots at Mathe, hitting him in the buttocks and legs.
Altech Netstar's managing director Andy Baker said the company received a call about a stolen vehicle from a woman who was allegedly tied up by Mathe at her Craighall Park home around 06:20.
He said the woman told the company that someone had broken into her home, tied her and her daughter up and then fled in her car.
"By 06:48 we located the vehicle and using air and ground recovery teams we managed to corner the suspect," said Baker.
"We gave chase and apprehended the suspect. There was a struggle and our guy was stabbed in the face, but he managed to shoot the suspect."
Baker said the employee was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
He could not give further details about the employee or the hospital he was taken to.
"All I can say is that our guy's ok, he is stable. He is obviously in a serious condition, but he is stable.
"We are just very happy to know that we could bring this assailant in," said Baker.
De Beer said the man was, shortly after the incident, positively identified by police detectives as Mathe.
After Mathe's escape, reports said it appeared that the "Houdini" stripped and covered his entire body with petroleum jelly to climb out of a window measuring 20cm x 60cm.
Following his escape, two men, among them a reverend apparently resembling Mathe, were arrested and later freed.
Mathe faces 51 charges, including murder, attempted murder, rape, hijacking and armed robbery, said De Beer.
- SAPA
|
News
