Harare: ONE prisoner jumped to his death, the other is hospitalised nursing injuries and the third is on the run after a daring escape from a moving prison truck over the weekend.
The three hardcore criminals, the late Nyashadzashe Hove, Boniface Utete who is in hospital under hospital guard and the fugitive Timothy Munhare jumped off a moving prison truck on transit from Chikurubi Maximum Prison to Khami Maximum Prison in Bulawayo ahead of their court appearance to face further charges.
They were serving a combined 126 jail term with Utete and Hove expected to be released in 2056 and 2069 respectively facing various charges, the Zimbabwe Correctional Prison Services (ZPCS) said.
“Munhare who is now a fugitive after he managed to escape and is also a robbery and carjacking convict was supposed to be released on December 30, 2054, ” ZPCS Midlands provincial spokesperson Jere Ruzive told state media.
The inmates reportedly in leg irons assaulted prison officers before the daring escape attempt from the moving truck near lalapanzi along the Mvuma-Gweru highway.
This is not the first time Zimbabwe has had to deal with such criminals as these, the famous Stephen Chidhumo and Edgar Masendeke terrorized villagers after their magic escape from chikurubi maximum prison in 1995.
Chidhumo and Masendeke became popular after escaping Chikurubi maximum prison in 1995 in an unprecedented jailbreak attempt bringing even greater spotlight to a notorious career of crimes including murder and armed robbery - some of the worst in the country’s criminal history.
According to Zimbabwe statistics, the only successful break-out from Chikurubi was the November 1995 escape by infamous armed robbers and killers Edmund Masendeke, Elias Chauke and Stephen Chidhumo along with a fourth man.
All three men were later re-arrested after resuming their crime spree and sentenced to death. They were hanged in 2003.
