A prisoner who escaped from Whawha Prison had a funny but yet genuine reason as to why he escaped from the prison. When he appeared before the magistrate, after being arrested he stated that he decided to run away because inmates were being made to work hard on empty stomachs.
20 year old Washington Timba of Mwanza Village pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody when he appeared before Gweru magistrate Ms Judith Taruvinga who sentenced him to a year in jail that will run concurrently with the previous nine months imprisonment for theft and unlawful entry. In passing the sentence, the magistrate said Timba acted in an unlawful manner.
“What he did is punishable with a prison term,” said Ms Taruvinga.
In his defence however, Timba maintained that hunger and hard work drove him to escape from the prison walls.
“I decided to leave because they were making us do a lot of work on empty stomachs. I left and went home because prison life is really hard for me, “he said
Prosecutor Mr Edward Gwainda told the court that on October 21 last year at Whawha Medium Prison, a prison officer, Kudakwashe Gwasunda, took five Class B inmates to the prison farm to collect firewood.
Timba was reported missing at around 2pm on the day of his escape, when in the company of other inmates, however his was a short-lived sense of freedom as he was later arrested at 11pm on the same day, at his last known address.
Different from all movies that you might have watched probably, Timba never changed from prison grab as he was apprehended still fully clothed in his prison attire.
