Murder suspects flee from custody

By The Citizen Reporter

Arusha, Tanzania.

There was drama outside the High Court premises in Arusha yesterday afternoon when two people escaped in broad daylight.

The escapees include a prime suspect behind the killing of a Chama cha Maendeleo na Demokrasia (Chadema) leader in Usa River last April. They  are alleged to have killed the chairman of Usa River Ward in Arumeru District, Arusha Region, identified as Mr Simon Mbwambo, 32. The latter was brutally murdered on Friday night in an event suspected to be linked to political rivalry.

Eyewitnesses said yesterday that  one of the suspects facing a murder charge grabbed a gun from a police officer after the case was adjourned and was about to board a police vehicle back to remand prison.

He immediately ran towards a nearby river valley, abandoned the gun and disappeared in the thick vegetation surrounding the river bed. The area is also close to the high density Sanawari suburb.The sub-machine gun (SMG) which was grabbed from the law enforcer was later recovered, eye witnesses told The Citizen over the phone late yesterday.

When contacted on the incident, the Arusha regional police commander, Mr Liberatus Sabbas, confirmed the incident  saying that the two suspects have fled the court premises and they were pursuing them.

“It is true that two suspects have fled under police escort and we are pursuing them,” he said. However, he declined to give more information, insisting that he had nothing more to explain at that time and was under pressure of work. It could not be immediately established how many police men were escorting the suspects to the High Court premises in the leafy suburb northeast of Arusha yesterday.

Normally a few armed policemen accompany suspects from the remand prison at Kisongo along the Dodoma road to the court nearly 10 kilometres away. Depending on the importance of the case, the truck at times can be escorted by heavily armed policemen in Landrovers. The truck carrying the suspects passes through the ever busy Sokoine Road that cuts through the city, sometimes bringing business to a temporary standstill because of the continuous noise from sirens.

One source said yesterday that people at the court feared chasing the armed suspects.  Although eye witnesses said only one of them managed to escape, and the RPC confirmed that they were hunting down two suspects.

The suspects were arrested in Dodoma and said to be members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).

Following the murder of Mbwambo, Chadema leaders in Arusha and some residents had suspected that Mbwambo was a victim of rivalry between the opposition party and archrivals CCM, which had been raging before and after  the Arumeru East by-election. Mr Joshua Nassari triumphed over CCM’s Sioi Sumari in the April 1 by- election.

Mbwambo was reportedly watching the eight o’clock news on TV at Mji Mwema with several people when unknown people phoned him, requesting that he meets them.

The Chadema secretary for Arumeru District, Mr Dotnan Ndonde, said that shortly after his departure, his body was found in the compound of Mukidoma Primary School, two kilometres away.

“Mr Mbwambo’s body was lying in a pool of blood with his throat  having been slit. It was therefore apparent that he had been murdered only a short time previously,” Mr Ndonde had said. An autopsy report cited excessive loss of blood as the cause of his death.

Source: The Citizen (04/10/2012): http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/26261-murder-suspects-flee-from-custody