Luke Zinyengere Sentenced To 22 Years In Jail For Court Escape And Carjacking
Luke Zinyengere, the prisoner who made headlines after dramatically escaping from prison officers at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on 21 March 2025, has been sentenced to 22 years in jail for his crimes.
Zinyengere was found guilty by Harare magistrate Letwin Rwodzi after a full trial, facing charges of escaping from lawful custody and armed robbery.
During the trial, the court heard that after slipping away from prison officers, Zinyengere pulled out a gun and forced a motorist to hand over their car, which he then sped off in.
He admitted to escaping from custody and partially accepted the armed robbery charge, claiming he had only used a toy gun to steal the vehicle.
However, the prosecution proved that he had used a real firearm, which had been smuggled into his prison cell by relatives with help from a prison officer.
Zinyengere received a 10-year sentence for the escape and 12 years for the armed robbery.
When passing sentence, Magistrate Rwodzi noted that the crime had been carefully planned.
She said the only mitigating factor was that Zinyengere is a family man and a first-time offender. Added Rwodzi:
The plan was executed in a movie-style and it traumatised a lot of people including court officials.
You also traumatised the innocent, the general public who were doing their business and the owner of the car whom you robbed.
The original crime that he is facing should be considered and in this case there are several cases of armed robbery.
I will settle for the highest penalty. Escaping from lawful custody shows that you cannot be rehabilitated in the near future. Society must be protected and jailbreak is not a kids’ game.
The court heard that on the day of the offence, Zinyengere escaped custody and robbed Tinashe Chiyamuro of his vehicle and mobile phones, fleeing at high speed towards Harare’s Kopje area.
The vehicle was later found abandoned on Kaguvi Street, where Zinyengere had nearly crashed into a spare parts shop before fleeing on foot.
Police recovered fingerprints from the vehicle, and the following Monday, acting on a tip-off, arrested Zinyengere in Ruwa as he attempted to hire a car after returning from Mutare.
A prison officer accused of assisting Zinyengere and another inmate, Tafadzwa Richard Marondera, to escape has also been arrested and awaits trial.
A prosecutor and two of Zinyengere’s relatives were likewise arrested for allegedly aiding the escape.
Meanwhile, Harare Regional Magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni sentenced Marondera to 10 years’ imprisonment for attempting to escape from lawful custody.
More: ZimLive
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