At 3:10pm Thursday while the judges were deliberating to decide on a sentence for a 37-year-old thief, the defendant himself made a dramatic escape from the court.

Nguyen Van Danh, of Khanh Hoa Province, somehow managed to extricate himself from throngs of security to climb onto the roofs of some local houses nearby.

Police only managed to capture him 20 minutes later - after he fell down from a slippery corrugated iron roof.

Judge Nguyen Thi Thu Hieu said police and court and prison guards are responsible for keeping watch over the defendant and wondered how he managed to flee from them.

The Nha Trang People’s Court in the end sentenced Danh to 3 years in prison for theft. It is not known if his new escape attempt has any bearing on the sentence.

On May 2, Danh stole US$51, over VND500,000, one camera and one music player from an Argentina tourist named Danian Alejandro Lubenfeld after Lubenfeld left the belongings on a Nha Trang beach to bathe in the sea.

Danh earlier was sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbery. The theft on May 2 occurred just 10 days after he was released from prison.