3 dangerous prisoners escape from Khami prison

THREE dangerous criminals have escaped movie-style from Mlondolozi Prison housed at Khami Prison Complex on the outskirts of Bulawayo, a senior Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) officer confirmed yesterday.

Chief Prison Officer Priscilla Mthembo, who is the acting national public relations officer of ZPS, said the trio is suspected to have escaped in the early hours of Saturday.

She said investigations to establish circumstances leading to the escape are still under way.

"The Zimbabwe Prison Service is working in conjunction with the police in a bid to recapture the escapees," she said without giving more details.

The trio, she said, had stayed for less than six months at Mlondolozi, a prison mental institution, which partly houses female inmates.

The trio was sent to Mlondolozi after allegedly faking that they were mentally challenged.

Mlondolozi houses prisoners who are diagnosed to be mentally challenged and magistrates normally order that two Government doctors examine them to ascertain their mental state before they are seen by a psychiatrist.

Once the psychiatrist certifies them to be mentally challenged, they are then tried under the Mental Health Act and the sentence is committed to a mental institution where they receive treatment until they are certified to have recovered.

Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo identified the three as Nkosizile Ncube (25), from Nhlozamandla Village under Chief Sigola in Umzingwane District, Blessed Gorezara (24), of Nketa 9 in Bulawayo and Nqobile Ncube (29), of Nketa 8, also in Bulawayo.

Ncube is facing a charge of stealing a motor vehicle from a house in Magwegwe on 3 March last year; Gorezara was arrested for killing a child in Lobengula Extension on 26 June 2010, whose head he cut off before putting it in a bag and jumped into a hearse belonging to a funeral parlour while Ncube is facing two counts of armed robbery.

Ncube allegedly committed the offences in 2008 and has been on remand since that time.

Insp Moyo said the trio was in the cells when a hand-over take-over was done at 10pm on Friday last week and the escape was discovered on Saturday morning at about 6am when a check was done.

"It is alleged that they broke a door to the cell before breaking the outer door leading to the yard. They then broke the door to the watching tower before climbing to the roof of the cells," he said.

"They then walked for about 20 metres on the roof in the western direction before jumping to the ground and disappearing."

The trio allegedly stole civilian clothes belonging to new inmates and left behind their prison garb.

Added Insp Moyo: "Investigations are continuing and we are appealing to members of the public who might have information on the whereabouts of the trio to come forward or call the police hotline 09-885479."

The State had closed its case against Ncube and when it was time to lead his evidence in his defence he started behaving strangely prompting the trial magistrate to order that he be examined by two doctors.

Gorezara's trial was yet to be set down at the High Court, but the snag was that he was also behaving strangely, which prompted the remand court to order that doctors examine him.

Prosecutors who spoke on condition of anonymity said the rate at which suspects were behaving strangely was now a cause for concern and suggested that this could have been a ploy to plan their escape since Mlondolozi reportedly does not have tight security like Khami Maximum Prison.

A source who is privy to the set up at Mlondolozi Prison claimed that there is no lighting at the complex and that the trio might have taken advantage of the darkness.