Five prisoners escape in North West
Three awaiting-trial prisoners escaped from custody in Bethanie near Brits on Thursday, North West police said.
Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said the three escaped through a window after removing steel burglar bars.
“The escapees, Victor Madonsela ,41, Charles Chauke, 31, and Patrick Moyo, 24 were in detention for burglary and house robbery cases,” he said.
In other incident, Lawrance Mayisela, 33, and Boitumelo Tsagae, 22, escaped from the Potchefstroom police cells on Wednesday.
Colonel Mokgwabone said a policeman was locking a holding cell after detaining an awaiting trial prisoner when one of the two escapees hit him with a broken piece of sewage pipe on the head.
“The suspects then took the cell key, opened the cell and escaped. At the time of the escape, one of the suspects, Lawrence Mayisela, was waiting to be transferred to Correctional Services after being sentenced on Tuesday, to 18 years’ imprisonment for robbery aggravating. The other escapee, Boitumelo Tsagae, was in detention for burglary and theft.”
He said investigations regarding their escape and re-arrest were underway.