Man tortured over missing phone

THREE men kidnapped an Umguza villager, stripped him naked and set fire to his buttocks after accusing him of stealing a mobile phone, a court heard.

Sibangilizwe Dube, 42, Thamsanqa Ncube, 48, and Zebediar Tshuma, 52, from Billars Farm in Umguza were allegedly trying to force a confession out of Ntandoyenkosi Sibanda, 23.

The trio pleaded not guilty to assault before Bulawayo Provincial magistrate Abednico Ndebele on Wednesday.

Sibanda said the trio tied both his hands and legs and poured opaque beer all over his nude body as they tortured him.

"Dube tied both my hands and feet. Ncube stripped me naked and advised Dube to bring hot charcoal which they used to burn my buttocks and chest so that I confess. Tshuma poured beer all over my body as he flogged me using a whip," said Sibanda.

"I was then tied at the back of a pickup truck and taken to Sazini's homestead were they suspected I had taken the phone. My mother took me to a clinic. From the clinic I was transferred to UBH (United Bulawayo Hospitals) for treatment."

Sibanda, who works at Ncube's farm, is alleged to have traded the phone for mbanje.

"When we beat up Sibanda, he confessed that he had exchanged the phone for three twists of mbanje," said Dube.

Ndebele remanded the trio out of custody to April 16 on free bail.

Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza told the court that the phone was discovered missing on February 6 at about 6PM.