A SELF-CONFESSED former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) torturer has appeared in court in England charged with working illegally.
Phillip Machemedze, 44, worked illegally as a support worker at The Priory mental health clinic in Bristol and charity, The Milestone Trust.
He spent eight years on the night shift at the Priory, a Bristol clinic which is a haven for the rich and famous.
He was granted asylum in Britain along with his wife, Febbie, in May, despite an immigration judge’s finding that he had committed “crimes against humanity” as President Robert Mugabe’s henchman.
But the judge said Britain “cannot return him to face death or inhuman or degrading treatment”.
In the midst of public outrage over the decision to grant Machemedze asylum, police began an investigation into his activities in Britain and uncovered claims that he had forged Home Office letters in order to obtain employment.
At the Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Machemedze denied two counts of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception.
Machemedze – who appeared in court wearing a striped purple top and matching purple leather shoes – spoke only to confirm his name, address and plea during the hearing.
He was granted conditional bail, which prevents him from applying for a passport or international travel documents, to appear before the same court on September 13.
Machemedze, who joined the CIO in 1996, arrived in the UK in 2000 after he had “enough of the torture”, he told an immigration tribunal.
He admitted to smashing the jaw of an MDC activist with pliers before pulling out his tooth and stripping another naked and threatening to force him to rape his daughters if he did not give information.
He also confessed to electrocuting, slapping, beating and punching "to the point of being unconscious" a white farmer suspected of giving money to the MDC, and to "putting salt into the wounds" of a female MDC member who was imprisoned in an underground cell before being stripped naked and whipped.
But he claimed he tried to leave the CIO and was supplying information to the MDC. He said his wife was tortured after he left the country, prompting her to leave behind their three children and follow him to the UK.
Machemedze and his wife live in St George, Bristol.