Two South African men who were serving sentences for murder at the Leeukop Prison in Sandton, Johannesburg, managed to escape and go on a short-lived crime spree for several hours on Thursday, 9 September 2021.

According to the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD), the convicts’ first order of business was robbing a house in Fourways and kidnapping a four-month-old baby from the same home.

“A domestic worker saw them from inside and locked the back door. It is alleged that the suspects kicked the door down, as well as a second door inside the house. They robbed money from the lady of the house and kidnapped her daughter aged four and half months,” said JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minaar.

Things soon went downhill for the escaped prisoners: They hijacked a White Toyota double cab and drove towards Diepsloot with another vehicle chasing behind and ended up landing in a ditch.

Minaar says officers who were patrolling in the area spotted the double cab driving at a high speed along the R511 and Plum Street, before the vehicle drove into a ditch.

“Officers then saw members of Diepsloot community attacking the two male occupants. Officers discovered that the two male suspects had escaped from Leeukop Prison, where they were serving sentences of ten years and thirty years for murders which they committed,” JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minaar.

It wasn’t too long afterwards that the pair was rearrested and detained at the Diepsloot Police Station. The child’s father then took her to Fourways Hospital where she was to undergo some medical evaluations.

“Her condition has not yet been ascertained. Correctional Services were also called to fetch the suspects at the police station,” Minaar further said.