LUPANE — Three members of a neighbourhood watch committee who sometime in June last year arrested a villager suspecting him of having stolen a neighbour’s donkey before assaulting him were on Thursday jailed eight months each.
Chrisbenard Mkandla (40), Vusa Gumbo (28) and Temba Nduna (40), all members of the neighbourhood watch committee from Mtshehwa village, pleaded not guilty to assault charges when they appeared before Lupane magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba.
The person whom they arrested and seriously assaulted was not the one who had stolen the donkey, but his nephew who has since been arrested and admitted to the charge.
The court heard that some time in June 2011, Mkandla, Gumbo and Nduna picked up information that the complainant, Victor Ndlovu, had stolen a donkey belonging to one Mathew Sibanda and sold it to a man only identified as Tshuma from Binga district. They arrested him and lied to him that the village headman wanted to see him at Buyu village.
They went with him to the headman’s home and spent the whole day there. The headman later told them to go back to their homes and while on the way at Tshongokwe business centre, they handcuffed Ndlovu accusing him of having stolen the donkey.
They started assaulting him with whips to force him to admit to the crime. But it later emerged that his nephew, Brain Ndlovu, was the one who had stolen the animal.
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Ndlovu sustained serious injuries as a result of the assault and was taken to St Luke’s Mission Hospital for treatment.
Sanders Sibanda represented the State.