There was drama at the Mutare Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday when a convicted armed robber escaped from custody before disappearing in a getaway car.
Trymore Gata and his accomplice Ernest Kariwo (both 27) had been convicted by regional magistrate Livingston Chipadze of armed robbery after they stole $300 and a cellphone from Clemencia Masikati in 2010. The pair threatened Masikati with a pistol before taking her belongings valued at $410. After handing down the judgment, the magistrate adjourned the matter for the convicts to prepare their mitigation.
But as the robbers were being whisked away by prison officers into the cells, Gata allegedly requested to hand over some money to his younger brother.
He allegedly used the opportunity to escape from Court A before jumping into a waiting Toyota Chaser vehicle that sped off.
“Some court officials were stunned and they failed to read the situation while some were alerting others to nab the convict,” said an unnamed official.
“In no time he got into the waiting vehicle and sped off.”
Manicaland provincial police spokesperson Inspector Enock Chishiri said he had not received a report on the incident witnessed by this reporter. Gata’s accomplice was sentenced to seven years, but two were suspended on condition of good behavior.
Meanwhile, two Mozambican were sentenced to six years each in prison for a string of armed robberies they committed in Mutare in 2010 after threatening their victims with a machete. Michael Sithole and Jealous Tangwena were convicted on four counts of armed robbery. They will serve four years in prison after two were suspended for five years.
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In one of the cases, they waylaid Arnold Madinga at a foot bridge in Sakubva on April 13, 2010 and struck him with a machete before robbing him of an undisclosed amount.
In October, they pounced on a police officer who was on patrol in Sakubva and demanded his belongings.
