HARARE – Three robbery suspects who staged an audacious jailbreak after overrunning two police officers on duty, leaving one for dead, are back behind bars facing even more serious charges, including a senseless murder committed during a subsequent robbery in Masvingo.
Shepherd Chinhara, 44, Kudakwashe Nyashanu, 37, and Edson Dhonza, 27, made a dash for freedom after deceiving Constable Musarashana Mlambo into opening their holding cell at Showground Police Base in Harare, claiming one of them was desperate to answer the call of nature because of a running tummy.
As they bolted, the trio allegedly knocked down Mlambo and pummeled him with makeshift weapons, leaving the officer unconscious with a cut in the face that would require ten stitches and another gushing wound at the back, according to a court docket in which the three are now charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement agent last month.
“They picked a metal hoe and a shovel which were in the corridor near the door and started attacking him on the head and all over his body,” prosecutors say.
“The complainant (Mlambo) shouted for help and his colleague who had remained in the charge office rushed to the holding cells and she met the accused persons who were running towards the main door and she was also attacked with a metal. The three accused persons managed to escape.”
Mlambo and his colleague, Tumiso Ndlovu, were treated at Parirenyatwa Hospital and discharged.
While on the run, prosecutors say, Dhonza and Chinhara hooked up with two other suspects and unleashed a reign of terror in Masvingo, where they killed the wife of 43-year-old Abvious Nhokovere in a robbery on January 15, 2021, by shoving the couple into a 20-meter deep disused mine, killing her instantly before taking off in the couple’s car.
Police cracked the ghastly homicide last week when they intercepted and arrested Dhonza while driving the stolen vehicle – a Nissan Caravan – in Harare, bringing the alleged gang’s borrowed freedom and crime spree to a halt.
“The accused (Dhonza) was interviewed and he implicated Shepherd Chinhara, Biggy Munyari, and Bright Muteki as his accomplices,” the court documents say.
Detectives went on to round up the other suspects and recovered a gamut of property allegedly stolen in Masvingo during the robbery frenzy, including clothes, electric appliances, and electronic gadgets.