Notorious prison escape Ananias dies in S.Africa

Johannesburg. A prisoner who escaped twice from high-security jails in South Africa died while being treated for an illness that guards reportedly at first suspected was part of another escape plot, officials said Wednesday.

Convicted murderer, rapist and armed burglar Ananias Mathe, from Mozambique, was renowned from his many audacious attempts to break out of prison.

He died in hospital in Durban on Tuesday “due to complications with digestive issues”, correctional services spokesman Thulani Mdluli Kwazulu told the SABC state broadcaster. “We have been giving Ananias Mathe (the) medical attention he deserves for the past three months,” he said.

In 2006, Mathe achieved notoriety when he became the first person to ever escape from the maximum high-security C-Max Penitentiary in Pretoria. He was reported to have smeared himself in petroleum jelly, squeezed through a tiny window, broken down a wall and used a steel bed bar for a hook to hold a rope made from bed linen and clothes.

However, it was also suspected that he had inside help, and six prison wardens were dismissed over his escape. After two weeks on the run, Mathe -- dubbed by police as “the ultimate criminal” -- was tracked down and captured when he was cornered in a house and stabbed a security guard in the eye with a screwdriver. (AFP)