Detainee shot dead in Nampula prison break / Four others at large – Video

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Detainee shot dead in Nampula prison break / Four others at large – Video

7:00 CAT | 11 Apr 2016

TVM

One prisoner was shot dead during a break-out from Mozambique’s northern regional penitentiary in the city of Nampula last Tuesday, according to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.

The escape occurred when a group of 39 prisoners were planting trees in a field near the penitentiary. A group of five prisoners took advantage of the guards’ lack of attention and made a run for freedom.

When the guards saw that an escape was in progress, they chased the fleeing prisoners and opened fire. One of the prisoners was shot, and died, but the four others succeeded in escaping, and by Thursday there was no knowledge as to their whereabouts.

The management of the prison has opened an inquiry to determine the exact circumstances of the escape and the shooting.

The rules governing work by prisoners outside the prison compound has been broken. The head of operations at the penitentiary, Manuel dos Santos, told the paper that there are clear criteria for selecting prisoners who are allowed to work outside the prison.

“One of the criteria is that the prisoners must have served half of their sentences. But none of the criteria were observed”, he said.

Furthermore, only two guards were watching over 39 prisoners. The escapees’ prison clothes were found only a few metres from the place where they had been planting trees, which suggests that the escape had been planned.

Elvindo Vasco Paulo, the man shot dead by prison guards, had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegal possession of weapon. Among the four fugitives stand out Fernando Daiton sentenced to 23 years in prison for organ extraction, Luis Matias Remane and Mateus Matola Tchemane both sentenced to twenty years in prison for qualified homicide and Ricardo Vasco Paulo sentenced to 12 years in prison for possession of forbidden weapons, reported TVM.

The penitentiary accommodates prisoners from the three northern provinces (Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado), who have been sentenced to jail terms of between 12 and 22 years.