Swiss prison guard runs away with rapist inmate

Zürich authorities confirm prison break, with guard’s husband saying couple fled to Syria

Bonnie & Clyde has been given a 21st century makeover in Zürich after a Thai boxing woman prison guard sprung a Syrian-born convicted rapist from his cell.

The guard, identified as Angela Magdici, is believed to have carried out the prison break of Hassan Kiko late on Monday night, while her night-shift colleague slept.

The colleague raised the alarm early on Tuesday after Ms Magdici vanished without waking her. Swiss authorities confirmed an escape from Zürich’s Limmattal prison but declined to comment further, saying they were pursuing “various investigative steps”.

Ms Magdici’s jilted husband told a Swiss tabloid the two had vanished with his black BMW X1 station wagon and were, he believed, on the road to the prisoner’s native Syria.

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Ms Magdici (32) married her 25-year-old husband in 2014 but the couple separated three months ago. The missing guard's husband told 20 Minuten daily that his wife had changed a lot of late. She had begun to become interested in Syria and the Koran and had received texts in Arabic.

“I loved Angela and wanted children from her. She had a big heart and was loving, but then she became apathetic and aggressive,” he said. “I think she has also become a Muslim.”

He filed a criminal complaint with police on Wednesday over the loss of the car, which he part-owned.

Police are questioning a friend of the prison warden, with whom she lived before disappearing. Ms Magdici’s husband has accused the friend of “covering up” his wife’s relationship with Hassan Kiko (27).

"She knew what was going on, I even asked her once directly if Angela was having a relationship with a prisoner," the guard's unnamed husband told Blick tabloid.

Ms Magdici’s friend and husband say they knew nothing of the relationship or her plans and noticed no change in their friend.

"Everything her husband said in the media is lies, Angela's not a Muslim, she's a Buddhist," said the husband of Angela's friend to Blick. "She'll turn up again, she's somewhere in Switzerland."

Swiss police have stepped up their pan-European search for the pair.

According to reports, Hassan Kiko fled Syria in 2010 or 2011. He claimed he had been imprisoned for three months by the Assad regime. His Facebook profile shows him posing in a gym with a bodybuilder physique and several tattoos.

Before he was convicted of the rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl and sentenced to four years in jail, he worked as a hairdresser.

Derek Scally

Derek Scally

Derek Scally is an Irish Times journalist based in Berlin