Now that's one snake most people wouldn't want to wake up to.
African Rock snakes are the third largest in the world and they suffocate their victims in their coils before they swallow them hole, nice. Normally they go after large animals such as crocodiles or antelope; however a sleeping human would be considered an easy meal for one.
When Matthews subdued the snake, instead of calling the relevant authorities, he tried to sell the snake to a reptile shop. Unfortunately for Matthews, the reptile shop owner had been made aware of a local theft of snakes from a house so informed the police. After nearly seeing his mate swallowed by a snake, Dwayne was handed a suspended eight-week prison sentence after he had admitted handling stolen goods.
Speaking about the somewhat foolish events Dwayne's Solicitor Richard Baker said:
"In his wisdom, and no doubt egged on by his inebriated friends, he decided it would be a good idea to buy it and sell it. The next morning he realised it hadn't been such a good idea. He got up to find one of his friends asleep on the sofa and this snake rearing up at him in an S-shape, its jaws open like a cobra. Instead of running out of the house, as some would have done, and leaving his friend to his fate, he apprehended this snake. He ran upstairs, got a quilt and threw it over the snake to subdue it and put it in a tank. It was like a sub-plot from a Guy Ritchie film. He didn't decide to get rid of it by dumping it in a bin, he was doing the best he could to remedy the situation."
Swayne had to pay £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge. The Magistrate described the incident: "This was a bit of a foolhardy enterprise."
