ONE of the inmates who used spears and a kitchen knife to threaten prison guards at Mwenezi Satellite Remand Prison last month before escaping, has been jailed for five years for escaping from lawful custody.
TATENDA CHITAGU OWN CORRESPONDENT
Tapiwa Chikange (30) had one year of the sentence suspended by magistrate Timeon Makunde on condition that he does not escape from lawful custody in the next five years.
Chikange’s other two accomplices are still at large.
Court documents did not indicate what Chikange had initially been arrested for.
The court heard that on December 17 last year, Chikange and his two accomplices took two spears and a kitchen knife from the prison kitchen and took captive a female warden whom they threatened to harm if she screamed.
They allegedly ordered another warden to open the gate for them. The wardens complied and the three disappeared into the bushes.
Chikange was rearrested two days later by park rangers at the Zimbabwe Bio-Energy game section.
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In passing sentence, Makunde said Chikange deserved a deterrent sentence since the worst could have happened had the prison guards resisted their demands.
“The accused committed a serious offence by escaping from lawful custody.
“If the prison guards had resisted, life might have been lost,” Makunde said while passing sentence.
