adminTanaka Mrewa,Court Reporter
THREE Bulawayo women stripped their friend naked, beat her up and filmed the assault after accusing her of gossiping about their health status.
Julia Zulu (41), Bulisani Moyo (28) and Linda Chimuti (26) accused Judith Sibanda (23) of spreading a rumour that Moyo was HIV positive and that Zulu was afflicted with herpes.
The trio pleaded guilty to assault and criminal insult charges before Western Commonage magistrate Miss Tancy Dube.
Miss Dube fined them $50 each and ordered them to perform 630 hours of community service.
The magistrate said she was disgusted by the distasteful way the three embarrassed their friend.
“What you women did deserves a jail sentence. It’s embarrassing when a 41-year-old behaves like a 15-year-old. What’s worse is that one of you is related to the complainant.
The reason you did this is because you don’t have anything to do, find something useful to do with your lives,” said Miss Dube.
She said the trio must pay the fine for the assault before July 31.
For criminal insult, Miss Dube sentenced each of the accused to 24 months in jail.
She suspended six months for five years and commuted 18 months to 630 hours of community service.
Prosecuting, Mr Mufaro Mageza told the court that on June 20, Sibanda phoned Zulu, Moyo and Chimuti asking them to come to her house.
He said Zulu and Moyo accused Sibanda of telling Chimuti that one of them was suffering from herpes and the other was HIV positive.
“Accused persons beat the complainant with a shoe then dragged her outside where they used sticks to beat her.
“They tore her clothes and recorded a video of her naked and sent it to their friends on social media,” said Mr Mageza.
Sibanda said the three forced her to admit to the gossip allegations.
“They held a knife to my throat threatening to stab me. My grandmother tried to restrain them but they overpowered her.
“She then called my husband who accompanied me to the police to make a report,” she said.
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