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Wynne Zanamwe Midlands Reporter—

A Whawha prisoner who escaped and was later rearrested has told a magistrate that he decided to run away because inmates were being made to work hard on empty stomachs.

Washington Timba (20) of Mwanza Village under Chief Bangure, Chirumhanzu, pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody when he appeared before Gweru magistrate Ms Judith Taruvinga.

Ms Taruvinga 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, Timba said hunger and hard work drove him to escape.

“I decided to leave because they were making us do a lot of work on empty stomachs,” he said. “I left and went home because prison life is really hard for me.”

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.

“At around 2pm, Gwasunda realised that one of the inmates, Timba, was missing from the group,” he said.

“He blew his whistle in order to alert other nearby prison officers to search for the missing inmate.

“Gwasunda proceeded to report the matter to his superiors and a search was conducted and the accused was not found.

“At around 11pm on the same date, five Whawha prison officers made an ambush at Timba’s last known address at Ascot Infill, Gweru.”

The court heard that during that time, Timba arrived home still wearing his prison garb.

He was apprehended and taken back to Whawha Prison.