Notorious convict escapes again

The escape of a rhino-poaching suspect from police custody while awaiting trial has raised serious concerns, as well as allegations of breaches of protocol and security failures, and increased the public’s distrust in the fundamental integrity of the criminal justice system, claims a Mail & Guardian report. It took two weeks for the authorities to discover that the suspect, who used the alias Thomas Chauke when arrested, was not who he claimed to be. But by then it was too late. The M&G says it has established that ‘Chauke’ is in fact Thabo Muyambo, the same dangerous criminal with a significant set of prior convictions who had been on the run for 11 months after tunnelling out from Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru prison last December. He had served just 18 months behind bars. He was sentenced to life in prison for rape, kidnapping and robbery in June 2019. In October, Muyambo was one of four suspects from Gauteng who were arrested after they had allegedly killed two rhinos at the Madikwe Game Reserve. The suspects were booked into custody at the nearby Nietverdiend police station, but Muyambo managed to escape again. SAPS spokesperson Sabata Mokgwabone said ‘circumstances that led to the escape are still being investigated’. He added that ‘we cannot confirm that the accused was aided in his escape’.