By A Correspondent- There was drama at the Beitbridge Magistrates Court yesterday when a juvenile murder suspect bolted from the courtroom and took to his heels before he was charged.

The suspect, aged 17, duped a police officer escorting him into believing that he wanted to answer to the call of nature and fled afterwards.

He was supposed to be arraigned on allegations of stabbing to death a 23-year-old drinking mate for spilling his beer in Makakavhule village.

The juvenile left the court stunned when he outpaced a pursuing policeman.

“He was fast, like a flash he left through the court gate and disappeared into the houses around and away,” a witness, who watched the spectacle, said.

He was supposed to be charged earlier, but procedurally Department of Social Welfare officers had to be at the court together with his relatives.

Some officials said when his aunt and Welfare Department officers arrived, he quickly put his plan into action.

Police with sniffer dogs were dispatched to comb the area, but he had made good his escape and was last seen on the banks of the Limpopo River.

Efforts to get comment from Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Loveness Mangena were fruitless as her phone rang unanswered.