A Zimbabwean man awaiting trial for stealing motorcycles has been locked up in a remand prison for months with his intestines hanging out after being shot in a police raid.

The accused appeared in court for a bail application this week, hobbling in pain and holding his protruding intestines in a plastic bag, local media reported.

A shocked judge ordered prison authorities to immediately take the man to hospital.

The man told the court he had failed to get medical help since his arrest in September.

A prison spokesman said the man had been taken back to hospital at least twice but there was no doctor on those occasions and he was receiving painkillers.

- Reuters