To the sounds of Happy Birthday sung by prison guards, Annanias Mathe escaped from his police holding cell at Joburg Central police station.
And when he made his second escape - this time from C-Max in Pretoria - the prison guards were watching soccer.
This emerged in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday when rape accused Mathe gave his reasons for pleading guilty on two counts of escaping from lawful custody as an awaiting-trial prisoner.
He is on trial on 71 counts, ranging from rape, indecent assault, attempted rape, attempted murder, theft, robbery, bribery to the two counts of escaping from jail after a crime spree between 1999 and 2006.
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He remained shackled during his testimony, in which he gave details of his initial escape from Johannesburg Central Prison's holding cells on April 2, 2005. He had been arrested in December.
Mathe said he was arrested after police linked him to numerous crimes through his fingerprints.
After two months in custody, with police denying him contact with relatives and friends, he decided to escape.
"I was in a holding cell on my own. There was a pipe on the floor under the windows... I got hold of it as some of it was rusted. With this piece, I was able to lift off the hinges of the grid over the louvre panels of the outside windows.
"I had to hit the hinges to get them loose. Then I used the entire pipe to break open the louvre.
"I am not sure of the date; all I know is that the prison guards were singing Happy Birthday to someone, and clapping hands and making a lot of noise."
The "partying" guards gave him ample opportunity, and he left his cell using a rope made from two blankets.
"As I was climbing down, the rope broke and I fell to the floor. There was a gate and a guard was sleeping. There was another guard, also asleep.
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