Task team rearrests Mdantsane escapee in Pretoria

A third prisoner has been re-arrested after four of them escaped from the Mdantsane medium facility on January 10.

Zimbabwean national Norman Mukunuwendo, 21, was apprehended by the Gauteng police in Pretoria last Wednesday while trying to skip the country.

Only one fugitive – Phikolomzi Sonakele from Mqanduli – remains at large.

Dramatic scenes played out at the country’s capital when heavily-armed Crime Intelligence Unit’s ground and air forces swooped on the fugitive at a busy bus terminus, where he was going to board a bus to Harare. Cambridge police spokesman Captain Mluleki Mbi, said the intelligence unit received a tip-off from one of Mukunuwendo’s family members in Port Elizabeth.

“The CIU visited the escapee’s home and his relative told them that he went to Pretoria to get money from his sister so that he could board a bus to Zimbabwe.”

Mbi said the police launched a lock-down and grounded all the buses from leaving the capital.

“Once he saw that we had rounded up the entire block and we outnumbered him, Mukunuwendo offered no resistance,” said Mbi.

Mbi said all exits were closed by the police during the operation.

Mukunuwendo appeared at the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court on Thursday and the case was remanded to today for further investigation. Mbi said a charge of escaping from lawful custody would be added in Mukunuwendo’s charge sheet.

He is currently serving a 15-year jail sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.

Mukunuwendo has a pending court case next month for robbery with aggravating circumstances.