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Bigboy Chauke and Calisto Dube

Plaxcedes Hove Court Reporter—
TWO daring inmates who were incarcerated for armed robbery and illegal possession of a firearm escaped from Khami Prison recently after being sent to fetch water by a prison warder. Bigboy Chauke, 27, and Calisto Dube, 34, yesterday appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Maphios Moyo facing charges of robbery and unlawful escape from Khami Prison last month.

Chauke was previously incarcerated for armed robbery and was due for release next year, while Dube, who had been jailed for possession of an unlicensed gun, had two more years to serve before the two hatched a plan to escape while working in the prison garden.

A prison officer sent them to fetch water and they disappeared from sight.
A day after escaping, the two met one Oliver Ncube in a bushy area between Robert Sinyoka and St Peter’s and robbed him of his clothes – two trousers and a shirt.

Their victim was left naked after they threatened to attack him with an axe if he did not cooperate.
They then headed to the railway station where they attempted to board a train to Chikwalakwala but were arrested.

Prosecuting, Kingstone Mkanganwa said the duo escaped from prison on March 4 while working in the prison’s garden with 53 other prisoners. “They escaped prison at around 1:30PM while they were cultivating the garden. They were tasked to go and fetch water by the senior prison officer 200m from where they were. They disappeared and never came back,” Mkanganwa said.

Chauke told the court that they did not escape but were told to leave by one of the prison officers.
“We left the prison because one of the prison officers told us to leave. He assigned me to steal irrigation pipes for him from the prison garden and in return he let us go,” he said.

Dube said the other reason they escaped was because they were being threatened by prison officers.
“We also ran away because we were threatened in prison and our lives were in danger. Some prisoners were being released from prison and we were left to rot in jail. We also wanted to know how the outside world felt like because it has been a while since we have been in prison,” he said.

The duo pleaded guilty to the charges of robbery in relation to the clothes and not guilty to unlawful escape from prison claiming that they were told to go by the prison officer.

Magistrate Moyo ordered the duo to come back for trial on May 5.