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FOUR Midlands State University students allegedly held a man hostage for 13 hours and took turns to assault him because they suspected that he stole their gadgets.
The four attackers, Calvin Munamati(20), Isaac Mwenda(24), Jeremiah Jongwe(22) and Edmund Maguvu (25) appeared before Gweru magistrate Tendai Madhanhire facing attempted murder charges after they assaulted Takudzwa Mpepu.
The charges were however, scaled down to assault.
The four pleaded guilty and were remanded out of custody to 25 March.
Circumstances surrounding the matter are that on October 16 last year, at around 9 am, the four accused, noticed that a Lenovo laptop belonging to Maguvu, and an iPad belonging to Mwenda and a Bluetooth speaker belonging to Munamati had been stolen.
The accused persons suspected that Mpepu had stolen their gadgets and they confronted him.
Mpepu went to his mothera��s home and the four accused followed him.
On his way back they followed him again until he reached his home. On 17 October, the four accused locked the complainant in his house and they assaulted him from 9am to 10pm using clenched fists, a folded gas tube, a cooking stick, a belt, hoe handle, and an electric cable while they demanded that he gives them back the gadgets he allegedly stole.
Mpepua��s mother went to his sona��s home where she found out that he had been assaulted by the four accused persons, who also refused to release him to his mother.
The complainanta��s mother then proceeded to the police station and filed a report against the accused.
Ernest Mzembe prosecuted.
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Online Reporter