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Kids helped nab Houdini
04/12/2006 22:49 - (SA)
Schalk Mouton, Beeld
Johannesburg - Three young children played a role in the identification and arrest on Monday of one of the most-dangerous criminals in South Africa.
Annanias Mathe, who escaped recently from C-Max Prison in Pretoria, was wounded and recaptured in Ivory Park near Tembisa on the East Rand, by a Netstar tracking-service employee.
Two boys pointed out Mathe's hiding place in the house to the Netstar man, who identified himself only as Joseph, and colleague Piet Botha.
Botha said: "Mathe was dead quiet in the house while we searched it, and when I went into the lounge one of the boys began to shout.
"Then I saw him hiding behind the wall unit,".
While he was being escorted to a Netstar bakkie, Mathe broke loose, stabbed Joseph under his right eye with a screwdriver, and ran away.
"I tried to wipe the blood out of my face while chasing him, and called for him to stop. When he didn't listen, I shot him," said Joseph.
Girl recognised him
Two of the four shots, fired at a distance of 15m to 20m, hit Mathe in the left leg.
"We arrested him again, and handed him to the police."
Botha said Mathe had managed to dodge the police three times in the past fortnight.
Mathe had tried to hide his face from the Ivory Park community while he was on the run, but a girl of about six recognised him and said after his arrest "that looks like Mathe".
It was the first time police realised they could be dealing with Mathe.
Botha said the police started phoning around to find out how to identify Mathe.
John Reagan of the Netstar Altech group said their two employees had done much more than was expected of them.
"We are a vehicle-recovery service, and their task was to recover the stolen vehicle," he said.
"By chasing the man after he had abandoned the stolen vehicle, they went beyond the call of duty."
Joseph had no idea that he was after Mathe when he and Botha chased him for about a kilometre in the informal settlement. He only heard about 15 minutes after his admission to the Carstenhof Clinic in Midrand, that it had been Mathe whom he had shot.
"My director phoned and told me I had just arrested one of the most-dangerous criminals in South Africa," he said with a grin.
"When he stabbed me, I realised that he was someone who knew what he was doing.
"It feels great that I caught him."
Got away by motorbike
All the items taken during a robbery at a house in Craighall Park, Johannesburg, were recovered.
It also emerged that on at least three occasions, Mathe had managed to give police the slip.
According to a reliable source, he got away once by motorbike, once at a roadblock and once while walking along a road.
No details were given.
"The police knew it was a matter of time before he would be arrested, because Mathe was making more and more mistakes," said the source.
- Beeld
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