Prisoner escapes after ‘toilet’ excuse

By Abel Zhakata

The Mutare Show Grounds were cordoned off on Wednesday morning as scores of prison officers besieged the provincial agricultural exhibition centre to track down a convict who had escaped and disappeared into the adjacent Murahwa Hills.

The fugitive, Kenneth Mubvumbi (29), who is serving two years at Mutare Remand Prison, made good his escape while doing maintenance work with eight other convicts under the watchful eye of two armed prison guards.

Mubvumbi tricked one of the guards into believing that he was relieving himself, yet he was scaling the perimeter fence. Clad in his khaki prison garb, he vanished into the nearby thickets.

After realising that Mubvumbi had taken long to come out of the toilet, the guard went to investigate and got the shock of his life when he realised that the convict had actually escaped.

When The Manica Post arrived at the scene moments after the escape, the two prison officers were at pains to explain what had happened.

One of them quickly called for help, while the other guarded the remaining eight convicts who were holding their garden tools.

“He lied that he was going to the toilet. Moments later he was gone,” said one of the convicts.

In no time, a Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service Nissan UD truck arrived at the Show Grounds with hordes of armed officers on board to beef up the search party.

They were briefed of the circumstances surrounding the escape and quickly went into action to track down the fugitive.

While some climbed up the hill, other officers mopped up the entire Show Grounds premises and surrounding areas looking for clues to nab the escapee.

“We have done this before and we are definitely going to apprehend him,” said one of the officers.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services public relations officer for Manicaland Region Principal Prison Officer Liberty Mhlanga said the fugitive was an inmate at Mutare Remand Prison serving a two-year sentence handed down by a Mutare court.

“He was sentenced on June 12, 2015 on malicious injury to property charges and was supposed to be out on October 11 next year. Circumstances surrounding his escape are that he scaled a security fence and disappeared into the Murahwa Hills.

“The fugitive was part of a nine-man crew that was doing maintenance work at the Show Grounds. He is yet to be located and we urge members of the public to report to the nearest police station if they have any leads,” he said.

PPO Mhlanga said search parties would work round the clock tracking the escaped convict.

In 2013, a 24-year-old prisoner was convicted by a local court for escaping from Mutare Farm Prison where he was serving a three-year jail term. Jealous Makaza made good his escape on September 24, 2013 after disappearing from the prison garden where he was working. He was due to complete the sentence on August 7, 2015.

In 2012, an armed robber escaped from holding cells at the Mutare Magistrates’ Courts soon after being convicted of four counts of robbery. Trymore Gata, who was awaiting sentence ran away from prison guards and sped off in a gate-away Toyota Mark II vehicle which was parked at the court’s entrance. He was later re-arrested and jailed.

In 2011 another armed robber was shot dead following a failed escape bid at the Mutare Magistrates’ Courts in which members of the public gave chase and apprehended the escapee in the city centre. Manica Post