Makhado – Two more escaped prisoners have been apprehended and police are still searching for the remaining four inmates after seven prisoners escaped during a jailbreak at a maximum security prison in Limpopo after a riot, Limpopo police said on Saturday.
The riot started at the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in Louis Trichardt on Thursday night and lasted until the early hours of Friday morning.
"Two more escapees were this morning [Saturday] nabbed in a certain house at Shirley in Waterval policing area," Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said.
"A member of the community supplied valuable information that led to their rearrest. The duo, Jabulani Isaac Mahlangu and Thomas Munyai, were serving sentences on rape and murder respectively. This brings the total number of escapees who were rearrested so far to three. Four are still outstanding," Mojapelo said.
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Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba thanked the community members for their continued support and expressed much appreciation for their swiftness and willingness to work with police to bring criminals to book.
On Friday night, Mojapelo said that "after several counting processes, the total number of prisoners who escaped came to seven". Following the rearrest of the first escaped prisoner the six outstanding ones had been identified. He said 37-year-old Chris Faku was rearrest after police received information from the community. Faku was convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The remaining prisoners were Phathutshedzo Nemadodzi from Thohoyandou and in jail for murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances, Ntshengedzeni Manukha also from Thohoyandou and in jail for rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances, Zimbabwean national Nyota Raphaelj in jail for housebreaking and theft, and Mozambican national Justice Makamo in jail for business robbery and common robbery.
Mojapelo said prison officials called in members of the public order policing unit and the tactical response team who managed to stabilise the situation.
“The police in Makhado have opened cases of arson, malicious damage to property, and escaping from lawful custody after the prisoners of Kutama Sinthumule maximum security prison went on the rampage, torched, and damaged some of the prison facilities,” Mojapelo said at the time.