Suspect nabbed after madcap chase

A man, suspected of being behind a string of break-ins, has been arrested after a madcap chase led by a woman who arrived home to find him on her property.

The chase through the streets of Thornton in Cape Town ended when the alleged suspect was cornered in the garden of a nearby house.

The suspect, 29, who is a resident of Thornton, is now being questioned by police in connection with at least 12 recent break-ins in the area.

The heroine of the day was Hilary O'Shea, a promotions officer for the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service, who spotted the man on her property when she arrived home on Friday night.

"He obviously heard me arrive in my car," O'Shea said.

"When I got out of my car he emerged from my back yard with a bag in his hand.

"I first ran after him but then jumped in my car when he ran down our driveway and into the road. He could not get away from me.

"At one point I had to reverse the wrong way up a one-way street because I did not want to lose him."

As she chased the man, she stuck her head out of her car window and shouted for help.

"It was amazing, everyone came out. People were swarming all over the place and, moments later, the police also arrived," O'Shea said.

"I wasn't scared, I just wanted him behind bars. Adrenalin was running through my veins.

"My garage has been broken into three times and now my house - and six garages in the area had been burgled recently."

As the chase hotted up, the fleeing suspect scaled several garden walls before disappearing, said O'Shea.

The posse finally surrounded a house where they thought the man was hiding.

"After a while a man came round from the back and asked what the commotion was about. He said he lived there and owned the house, but he had no keys to get inside.

"He turned out to be the man we were chasing - he'd taken off his T-shirt hoping we wouldn't recognise him," O'Shea said.

The man is expected to appear in the Goodwood magistrate's court on Tuesday.