AN alleged housebreaker took the wrong turn when he decided to jump into Laerskool Edleen’s premises while fleeing from security officers on Wednesday.
What he thought was a sure plan to get away from MML Security, landed him in the bulldozing hands of the school’s male teachers, who chased him down when he entered one of the classrooms.
The thief was running away from MML Security’s reaction officers after he was caught trying to break into a house. They had received a tip-off from a resident on Flamboyant Street in Edleen, the company’s operations manager, Dewald Lategan, said.
“The neighbour said a suspect was attempting to break into a house in their street. Our reaction officers responded, found the suspect and chased him to Laerskool Edleen where he jumped over the palisade fence into the school yard,” explained Lategan.
What followed was a rather eventful morning for the learners and staff members at the school. Laerskool Edleen’s principal, Hannes Roodt, narrated the turn of events to EXPRESS.
“At about 10.30am maintenance workers at the school saw someone jump over the palisade fence onto the school grounds. They said it seemed as if he was running away from people. The workers ran to the administration staff in the office, who then pushed the panic button,” Roodt said.
By this time, the thief had started causing some commotion as he ran around on the school’s premises. Some of the male teachers had also started chasing him. Trying to hide from MML Security officers, he tried to duck into one of the classrooms but was eventually caught by the staff members.
The suspect was taken away from the classrooms and the learners’ view, who by that time had become hyped up from the commotion at their school. In a video captured by a staff member of the school, a maintenance worker told the suspect in no uncertain terms what he thought of him and his actions.
“We went around to all the classrooms so we could explain properly to the learners what had happened, so they knew the full story and we could calm them down.”
Fortunately no one was injured.
The suspect was taken away by Norkem Park SAPS.
