Police on the hunt for naked escapee

If you saw a naked man shimmying down a drain pipe at Durban’s Addington Hospital at the weekend‚ the police need your help.

Local cops are searching for a bare-backed burglar who has now twice escaped from custody. The escapee’s antics have twice made fools of police‚ who are now scrambling to recapture the Houdini-esque house robber.

The 36-year-old man had his first brush with the law on Friday last week when he was arrested for trying to break into a house in Westbury Crescent in Durban North.

Security guards and police managed to capture the man who‚ in an effort to flee‚ bit an armed guard.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said that the man had then escaped from the cells at the Durban North police station after a detective had booked him out of the holding cell.

“He escaped from custody when the investigating officer booked him out of the police cells for further investigation. He was re-arrested on the same day in Balmoral Drive with the assistance of the K9 Unit members‚” she said.

During the course of his arrest he was bitten by a police dog‚ sustaining injuries to his arms and legs. He was detained while in possession of a stolen bicycle.

The finale of his escape act played out at Addington Hospital‚ where he had been taken under police guard.

“He was taken to hospital for medical attention as he was injured by canines during the arrest. While at hospital‚ it is alleged that the suspect deliberately messed himself and soiled the bed linen.

“When the nurses took him to the bathroom to clean him‚ he escaped through a bathroom window‚ naked‚” Mbhele added.

She said that the man would face two counts of escaping from lawful custody‚ attempted housebreaking and possession of suspected stolen property.

He remains at large.