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Phyllis Kachere Deputy News Editor (Convergence)
For the past nine years Charles Rusiko, a D-Class prisoner at Harare Central Prison, only gets one hour per day, out of his cell.
The other 23 hours are spent in solitary confinement.
For a man who has lived like a hermit for that long, expecting to be hanged as each second passes, one would expect a beastly and raucous response, when asked for a newspaper interview.
Worse still, for a man who is a repeat offender.
But Rusiko (56) staying alone since June 7, 2013 could still afford pulling a smile and offer this writer a seat for a long interview at Harare Central Prison during the week.
“Since I came into prison in 2013, I have stayed in my single cell with no interaction with the outside world for 23 hours a day. The other hour is reserved for exercise. It is absolute torture, a nightmare for me; sitting and waiting for my execution. My capital sentence shocked me and it took some time for me to adjust from the shock,” said Rusiko.
“Four weeks after my incarceration here in 2013, I woke up at 2am to some feet shuffling in our death row corridor. When I heard the sound of the metal clips on the officers’ boots who were on routine patrol, I froze and became unconscious.
The noise definitely sounded like leg irons, and to me, that could have been one of the death row inmates on their way to their execution. I was discovered by some correctional officers at sun rise, still unconscious, sprawled on the floor. I had also soiled myself badly,” he said.
So the story continues.
“My journey to earn capital punishment started around 2007 when I was involved in a spate of armed robberies in Harare. My partner-in-crime Wilson Mavhuto and I became Zimbabwe’s first people to be convicted and sentenced to death on June 7 2013 under the new Constitution. It was for the murder of Fawcett Security guard, Victor Chaparadza during an armed robbery at an electrical shop in Eastlea, Harare on March 24, 2007,” said Rusiko, with eyes cast on the ground.
He said he clearly remembers the day he was sentenced as the judge, read his sentence.
“It was around 2pm on June 7, 2013 when the judge started reading out the sentence. My family, who were in the gallery wailed as I was sentenced to hang. I was in shock, trembling. I sat down trying to comprehend what had just happened.
“Even as I was transported to Harare Central Prison, I could not believe it. I somehow hoped this was a dream and I would wake up from it.
The prison chaplaincy and correctional officers did a good job in counselling me as I tried to come to terms with my sentence. It took me time, but I am slowly accepting it.
I have found time to scrutinise my criminal life, and I am happy to say, I have found God. I now spend my time reading the Bible and meditating upon the word of God,” he said.
While passing sentence Justice Felistas Chatukuta described Rusiko and Mavhuto’s actions as: “This is the most callous case I have come across during my career. The accused persons’ conduct clearly exhibits premeditation and determination to achieve their goal.”
Rusiko and Mavhuto grabbed Chaparadza, tied his hands and legs with electric cords and tyre cables before gagging him with mutton cloth. They left him gasping for air while looted electrical gadgets from the shop he was guarding.
“They came prepared with the intention to commit the offence and restrained the deceased in such a manner that he could not free himself if he wished to do so.
“It is clear from the way the mutton cloth was shoved in his mouth that he did not stand a chance to survive. A huge chunk was stuck in his mouth and an equally larger piece was hanging out of his mouth,” the judge said.
Rusiko, a married father of three narrated the anguish he had gone through since his sentencing.
“I feel terrible. I am deeply sorry and I hope I will get a chance to apologise to my victim’s family. I apologise to the family of the deceased, to the people of Zimbabwe and indeed, to the President of Zimbabwe. I deserve this punishment, but I am also seeking leniency and forgiveness. He said the correctional officers assured him there had not been any execution, it was just some of them on routine patrols.
“You do not recover easily from the kind of trauma I am going through. Not knowing when I will be hanged. Knowing I will never leave the four walls of my single cell. My cell has become my hell,” he said.
Rusiko explained how, on one occasion while peeping through the window of his cell which overlooks the C section exercise courtyard, he yearned just to join C section prisoners who were playing football.
“It had been three years since I was condemned to death by hanging and I could hear some inmates who were playing football in the C section courtyard. I yearned to be outside my cell, to be part of the team that was playing football.
“It suddenly dawned on me that I would never leave my cell, which has become my hell. The soccer pitch has become like paradise. That time, I did not even yearn to be freed and go outside. No! I just yearned to be outside my cell and join other in paradise on the soccer pitch,” he said, his eyes gazing into an unforeseen future.
He said on top of dealing with his guilty conscience and wondering how he would cleanse himself from the murder, he has to deal with the rejection from society, even from some of his relatives.
“I have become a social outcast. I was a robber and murderer. Today, I am paying for my errant behaviour. The biggest lessons for me are that crime does not pay. My wife and children still visit me. But some of my relatives clearly still need time to forgive me.
I have brought shame and curse to my clan,” said Rusiko.
Of the 62 inmates currently on death row at Harare Central Prison, serial armed robbers and murderers Rusiko and his partner-in-crime Mavhuto have served the longest, having been on death row since 2013.
“The 82 death row inmates who were serving here at Harare Central Prison before 2013, had their sentences commuted to life and are now serving at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. Some benefitted from numerous Presidential Pardons and amnesties and were released,” said the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service officer-in-charge at Harare Central Prison Chief Superintendent Makawa Matipuwa.
The other four death row inmates are in transit at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison where they await the process of commutation of their death sentences to life in prison.
Rusiko said he hoped that he will find clemency when the next Presidential Pardon and Amnesty is announced.
“If the amnesty comes, I may have my death sentence commuted to life. That is my only chance of leaving my death row cell and join other prisoners. I may be pardoned and released,” he chuckled.
Online Reporter