A FORMER henchman of Robert Mugabe living in Bristol has been told he can walk free after obeying a court order.
Phillip Machemedze was ordered to help the "poor and needy" of his local church at a court hearing in October 2011, where he admitted to working illegally while seeking asylum.
Sentencing was deferred until yesterday at Bristol Crown Court, where Judge Julian Lambert accepted that Machemedze had carried out sufficient work to receive a suspended sentence.
Machemedze, 47, who lives in Avonvale Road, Redfield, with wife Febbie, worked as a bodyguard to a minister as part of Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation. An immigration hearing last year heard that while working as one of Mugabe's "enforcers" he broke one victim's jaw with a pair of pliers and gave another electric shocks.
After arriving in England from Zimbabwe in July 2000, Machemedze was given a six-month visa but was prohibited from working. He illegally secured jobs in Bristol getting through several checks including an criminal record bureau check.
In October 2011 he pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to two charges of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception. He admitted working illegally as a carer at an adolescent unit within The Priory, a drug and alcohol recovery hospital, in Stapleton from June 2005 to May 2010. He admitted being a support worker for Milestones Trust, a learning disabilities and mental health charity, from May 2003 to May 2010.
At yesterday's sentencing, Judge Lambert saw evidence Machemedze had worked the required one day a week at the church since his last court appearance. Regarding the original offence, he said: "The lies should never have been told. But it seems you have secured a job by telling the truth on this occasion."
The judge said that unpaid work was unavailable as a punishment because of Machemedze's past. Machemedze was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years along with a six-month electronically tagged curfew from 9pm to 6am.
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