Teenage convict escapes prison mysteriously
A 19-year-old Malawian inmate last week left prison authorities, police and fellow convicts scratching their heads after escaping from Mikuyu Prison in Zomba district in a mysterious manner.
Mac Donald Mwansambo, from Menye village, TA Mkhumba in Phalombe district, was serving his 35 years jail term after the Phalombe Magistrate Court found him guilty of theft and burglary on six different counts.
The court had initially slapped him with a 50-year jail term which it later reduced to 35. The young offender was normally expected to walk to freedom in 2035.
Prisons spokesperson Sergeant Evance Phiri said Mwansambo had only served for five months of his jail term when he puzzled them with his bizarre escape.
“He is still on the run but efforts are underway to re-arrest him,” said Phiri.
He said on the day the young convict bolted, he left behind two heaps of his excreta which he nicely wrapped separately one in his blanket and the other in his prison uniform.
“It is suspected that he forced open the door then climbed to the roof of the outer prison wall before jumping over a barbed wire fence. But when he was doing all this his fellow prisoners and prison security personnel did not see him, this is what is surprising us,” explained Phiri.
During the dictatorial regime of late President Kamuzu Banda, Mikuyu Prison used to be a maximum security prison and the country’s notorious where most politicians deemed to be of dissent views were being thrown.
Meanwhile, police say they have intensified search for the teen-convict and are hopeful that they will re-arrest him.
