No trace of the uniformed suspect

It has been almost a week since a trial-awaiting prisoner, Tshilidzi Masindi, stole a police uniform at the holding cells at the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Courts and slipped to freedom unnoticed.

Even though a massive manhunt ensued after his escape, here has been no trace of him and he has not been recaptured. According to Thohoyandou police spokesperson Maj Mashudu Malelo, the escape happened last Tuesday at the close of business. It is believed that the 36-year-old Masindi, from Maraxwe, who is facing charges of murder, was in court for allegedly raping another inmate while he was in prison, awaiting trial for the murder case to be heard in the Thohoyandou High Court.

"He might have hidden himself in a passage at the holding cells and gotten hold of the police uniform from the cabinets where the court orderlies store their uniforms. At this stage, we do not know exactly what happened, but investigations are at an advanced stage to determine how he managed to leave the court premises undetected. We cannot rule out the possiblity of an inside job, but this would form part of our investigations. If any of our members is found to have aided the suspect in escaping, he will face the full might of the law," Malelo said.

He confirmed that an internal disciplinary process had already been instituted around the incident and appealed to the community to help them bring back the suspect to face the music.

"We have dispatched our tracing teams all over and we hope that, with the support of the community, it will just be a matter of time before we get him back to the cells where he belongs," said Malelo.

He appealed to members of the community not to confront the suspect as he is deemed very dangerous.

Those with information can forward it to the investigating officer, W/O Ntshavheni Ratshiedana, at 082 4019736.

Date:15 August 2014

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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