The Eastern Cape police on Monday morning have stopped a suspected thief in handcuff from jumping from a rooftop.
The 26-year-old man is a prisoner awaiting trial.
He was out on bail for robbery and was at the department of correctional services, Middelburg, in the Eastern Cape around 7am to sign his bail conditions.
When the officials realized that his home address was different from the former, he was handcuffed and restricted from leaving the premises.
He sought permission to use the toilet which was granted, he later escaped through a window opening and used a ladder to get to the second floor of the Karoo Country Inn Hotel.
He climbed the rooftop of the building and threatened to jump off to commit suicide.
The police had to negotiate with the suicidal detainee to come down from the building.
One of his friends also tried convincing him to come down.
In the video on social media, the suicidal detainee requested for cigarettes which was handed to him by a policeman who had to climb a fire brigade ladder to talk to him.
The same police officer convinced the distressed suicidal detainee not to jump when he said he was going to climb an air conditioning unit to his death.
According to onlookers around, the suspect said he was scared of returning to prison.
He said he would prefer to kill himself.
