Criminals prefer death to jail term

One of the criminals who broke into a resident's home in Limpopo and was caught red handed preferred to shot himself while his colleagues ran away.

Daily Sun reported that when the owner of the house ran out to get help from the community and his two accomplices fled, the thug apparently took out his gun and killed himself!

The incident in Thohoyandou unit E, Limpopo, has left residents sighing with relief because there will be one thug less to terrorise them.

The owner of the house, who did not want to be named as she was afraid of thugs, said she found the suspect holding a rifle in her house and she ran off to get help.

Community leader Thifhelimbilu Liphadzi said he heard residents shouting at six in the morning on Monday and went out to see what was going on.

"I found three people running. I followed them and phoned the cops, who came to the rescue. One of the men managed to escape, another was attacked by angry residents and then arrested and a third unknown person shot and killed himself," he said.

"Thugs have no place to hide, because as community members we help each other catch them."

Thohoyandou police spokesman Major Mashudu Malelo confirmed the incident and said an inquest docket was opened.

"The suspect is still unknown at the moment but we were able to recover the firearm he used when he shot and killed himself.

"We are still waiting for the home owner to open a docket so we can charge the other suspect with theft.

"The third suspect is still on the run," Malelo said.