HARARE – Prison escapees, Tafadzwa Marondera and Luke Zinyengere on Thursday showed mental breakdown signs when they appeared before the courts to answer to their criminal charges.
Marondera trial was expected to commence before Harare magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni who ordered the court to adjourn after he started acting weird.
Marondera was failing to follow court proceedings.
At some point, he stood up, turned his back against the magistrate, telling the court that he was seeing three people commanding him to sit down.
He did not respond after he was asked to plead.
When the case proceeded, Marondera requested to be tried at a different court, even at the High Court.
The case was then moved to April 8.
Zinyengere also acted strangely, failing to respond when the charge was put to him and when he was asked to plead.
His trial in a case he is accused of robbing Quest Finance of US$800,000 was due to start before magistrate Jesse Kufa.
Trial was moved to another date but he is expected back in court this Friday to answer to the allegations of escaping from custody.
Marondera and Zinyengere are facing charges of escaping from lawful custody.
Zinyengere is facing an additional charge of armed robbery where he allegedly robbed a motorist of his Mazda Demio vehicle at gunpoint.
It is alleged that early this month, Zinyengere and another inmate who is facing similar charges, applied for bail at the High Court and it was dismissed.
“The accused person looked for an option to escape from prison. In pursuance to their plan Marondera and Zinyengere approached prison officer Donald Madzinga whom they usually interface with and shared with him their plan in which they needed his assistance to smuggle in for them into Harare Remand prison.
“This resultantly led Zinyengere’s young brother Tinotenda to bring the revolver concealed in a bowl of rice which the accused accessed and kept in their cell.
“On 21 March 2025, the accused hatched a plan to escape from the lawful custody of prison officials using the revolver which they kept in their prison cell. Accused took the revolver, hid it in the pants and went to Harare magistrates’ court where he appeared in Court 12 together with his accomplice.
“As the accused persons were being escorted back into the prison truck in order to be taken back to Harare Remand Prison, accused and his accomplice sprang up, produced the revolver, threatened prison officers and ran away towards Mother Patrick Road where they scaled over the court’s palisade fencing. Shots were fired from both sides and during the chase, Marondera was tripped down by a prison officer; that is how he got arrested,” said the state.
The court further heard that Zinyengere managed to escape and in the process, robbed Tinashe Chiyamuro of his vehicle and phones and drove off at High speed towards Harare’s Kopje area.
The court heard that the vehicle was later dumped along Kaguvi Street where Zinyengere almost ran into a spare parts shop. He jumped off and disappeared.
It is further alleged that police managed to take fingerprints from the vehicle and on Monday, they received a tip-off that Zinyengere had returned from Mutare and as trying to hire a car at George Bus Stop in Ruwa, That is when he was rearrested.
Meanwhile Madzinga, was denied bail by magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa earlier this week.
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