Dan Mdluli
LIMPOPO – A 26-year-old man being escorted in a van to the Groblersdal police station bit a police officer’s finger while trying to escape on Tuesday.
Resident in the town watched in fascination as the police chased after the man and rearrested him a few metres from the station.
According to the police, the suspect was seen wandering around the Groblersdal taxi rank last Monday evening when he told the police on patrol he was on his way to Rakgoadi village outside Jane Furse.
The police said the suspect was again seen on Tuesday afternoon at about 15:00 with the same bag he was carrying the previous day. When approached he told the police that he was still travelling to Rakgoadi village.
Police crime prevention members conducted a search on the suspect and inside the bag. They found him in possession of suspected stolen groceries including baby formula, powdered milk, bath soap and roll-on deodorant, as well as a pack of dagga in his pockets.
A police officer, who cannot be named in accordance with the police’s communications procedures explained what happened
“One of his shoes was left in the van as he alighted. When I tried to give him his shoe he bit my right middle finger and tried to disarm me during a squabble. I overpowered him and he ran away from the police station, still in handcuffs.”
“When we finally caught up with him at the nearby businesses he had managed to free one of his hands from the handcuffs. We rearrested him and brought him back to the waiting cells,”said the police officer.
The suspect, Mandla Matlala, was granted R1 000 bail when he appeared before the Groblersdal District Court last Wednesday on charges of possession of dagga and suspected stolen goods.
