Crime&Courts: The Family of The Only Notorious Criminal To Escape Pretoria Prison, will be allowed to claim his body

 

 Notorious prisoner and escape artist Ananias Mathe died after undergoing an operation at Durban's King Edward VII Hospital. File picture: Sizwe Ndingane/Independent Media

The family of Ananias Mathe, the serial rapist and armed robber who made history when he became the only person to escape from Pretoria’s C-Max prison, have been informed of his death and will be given an opportunity to collect his body after a postmortem has been completed. 

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Correctional Services provincial commissioner, Mnikelwa Nxele, confirmed Mathe’s death, saying the officials had been in touch with his family as well as Mozambique’s consul in Durban. “We have informed the family and we have communicated with the consul. The family will have to be given the body,” he said.

Nxele said that Mathe had died at Durban’s King Edward VII hospital at 4.30pm on Tuesday afternoon.
Mathe, a Mozambican national who was convicted of 64 charges, including rape, attempted rape, attempted murder, robbery and theft, made headlines in 2006 when he managed to escape by covering his body with petroleum jelly and sliding out of his cell window. He was caught a month later. Six prison warders were dismissed in connection with his escape.

Prior to that, he had escaped while being an awaiting trial prisoner. There were also at least two escape attempts at Ebongweni C-Max Prison near Kokstad, with the most recent attempt being in September this year.