'Weak' Mathe wheeled into court
2007-04-24 11:18
Pretoria - Annanias Mathe, the C-Max Prison escapee, was brought to the Pretoria Regional Court in a wheelchair for his brief appearance there on Tuesday.
The case of the ill-looking Mathe was postponed for the disclosure of the docket to the defence.
Mathe, who was arrested in December after he escaped from C-Max Prison the previous month, was still wearing shackles and handcuffs in his wheelchair.
He had to be helped out by heavily armed correctional services officials.
The notably thinner and weaker accused stood in the dock with difficulty as his case was postponed to May 23.
He was again helped into the wheelchair and taken downstairs to the holding cells.
Here the officials carried the wheelchair until they could help him into a waiting vehicle.
It was earlier alleged that Mathe, who was shot in the right leg during his arrest, stopped eating in prison as he feared he might be poisoned.
On Tuesday defence lawyer Liz de Oliveira-Serrao said outside court that the accused had started eating again.
Mathe, a Mozambican national, is facing more than 50 charges including rape and murder. His trial on those charges was postponed in the Johannesburg Regional Court last month for further investigation.
- SAPA