HARARE - A Harare magistrate has slapped a convicted ex-soldier with another jail term after he was found guilty on charges of attempting to escape from prison.

Allan Mutemachani, 32, was yesterday convicted on his own plea of guilt on charges of escaping from lawful custody.

Harare magistrate Tayengwa Chibanda sentenced him to three more months in prison.

Mutemachani was serving a two-year-prison term at Harare Central Prison when he escaped while working at Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED), along Herbert Chitepo road in Harare.

He was serving a prison term after being convicted for stealing seven computers meant for the just-ended census from the Central Statistical Office now ZimStat.

The court heard that while he was at CMED where he was performing some duties under the supervision of a prison officer, he asked to visit the toilet.

When he reached a blind corner, Mutemachani scaled a pre-cast wall and fled.

He was arrested after 19 days at Machipisa Shopping Centre.

Mutemachani, who yesterday appeared shackled in leg irons and dressed in prison garb, said he committed the offence because he was brutalised while serving his prison term.

“I got involved in an accident eight years ago, so the kind of work I was doing while in prison was tough and the food was not good,” said Mutemachani.

“Physical assaults (while in prison) were the order of the day.

“My wife had also been chased from the house we were renting, while my sister had failed to register for her Ordinary Level exams, so I could not endure the pain.”

Mutemachani said he fled from prison in order to fend for his family since he is the only breadwinner.
 
He pleaded for the court’s leniency but his plea fell on deaf ears as he was sent back to prison.