THREE artisanal miners, whose video clip went viral on several social media platforms in 2017 confessing to gang raping sex workers after being pummelled in a mob attack, have been released from prison.
The rapist trio, known as the “Tobva tadii paya” gang due
to the repeated use of the phrase by then 18-yer-old Romeo Chirara, sent social
media into frenzy during their narration of how they gang raped the sex
workers.
A new video clip was posted on social media of Romeo and
Thabani Gaza (arrested at 20), being mobbed by members of the public and
treated as celebrities, with Romeo, who is now 23, repeating the 2017 line
“tobva tadii paya”.
Several people mobbing the gang in the trending video
chanted “tobva tadii paya” in the five-second clip.
The three, among them Admire Chirongoma, who was 18 then,
were tried and convicted of rape by a Chinhoyi regional magistrate and
sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each in 2018.
Three years were suspended, leaving them to serve seven
years, while a 16-year-old, who was also part of the gang was sentenced to
three years at Kadoma Probation Centre.
Charges against the four arose on July 4, 2017, when they
armed themselves with machetes and knives and raped sex workers in their rooms
at Mugwanya Compound in Battlefieds.
In mitigation, the four pleaded with the magistrate saying
they wanted to go back to school. The gang also faced six other counts, which
were not considered during their trial because the complainants did not attend
court.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service said they would issue a statement on the release of the gang today. H Metro
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