News / National
Soldiers fined for assaulting farmers
10 Oct 2018 at 16:39hrs | Views
Two Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) members were slapped with $600 combined fine by a Concession magistrate yesterday on three counts of assault, failure to pay by 31 October 2018 would earn them a four months jail term.
Victor Kufa (26) and Padington Chitauro (23) pleaded guilty to the charge before magistrate Nyasha Machirori.
Public prosecutor Munyaradzi Nengomasha told the court that on 21 September 2018 the duo together with their co accused soldier Aleck Kamudzinga (40) who is at large assaulted farm workers at Sommersat farm in Concession after they were denied entry into the farm where they wanted to do illegal gold mining.
Clad in military gear the soldiers ordered Lloyd Foya (21), Peter Kamutanda and Peter Nikirima to lay down before taking turns to assault them using open hands and boots.
The trio stopped brutalising their victims when they saw the farm owner approaching them.
The farm owner subsequently called the police who reacted swiftly and the trio who were using a marron Nissan Slyphy that was emblazoned with President Emmerson Mnangagwa's poster tried to flee but plunched into a ditch and were arrested.
In mitigation the soldiers were very remorseful for their actions and begged for a non-custodial sentence saying they wanted to safeguard their jobs.
"Your worship we are very sorry for our rowdy behaviour it is not our character but it was just a mistake of the day, we are prepared to meet any medical predicament if any, but our plea is for a non-custodial sentence since we need to keep our jobs and look after our families , may the honourable court pardon us," they said
Victor Kufa (26) and Padington Chitauro (23) pleaded guilty to the charge before magistrate Nyasha Machirori.
Public prosecutor Munyaradzi Nengomasha told the court that on 21 September 2018 the duo together with their co accused soldier Aleck Kamudzinga (40) who is at large assaulted farm workers at Sommersat farm in Concession after they were denied entry into the farm where they wanted to do illegal gold mining.
Clad in military gear the soldiers ordered Lloyd Foya (21), Peter Kamutanda and Peter Nikirima to lay down before taking turns to assault them using open hands and boots.
The farm owner subsequently called the police who reacted swiftly and the trio who were using a marron Nissan Slyphy that was emblazoned with President Emmerson Mnangagwa's poster tried to flee but plunched into a ditch and were arrested.
In mitigation the soldiers were very remorseful for their actions and begged for a non-custodial sentence saying they wanted to safeguard their jobs.
"Your worship we are very sorry for our rowdy behaviour it is not our character but it was just a mistake of the day, we are prepared to meet any medical predicament if any, but our plea is for a non-custodial sentence since we need to keep our jobs and look after our families , may the honourable court pardon us," they said
Source - Byo24News
