Zvikomborero Parafini
THE policeman and a soldier, who allegedly fatally assulted a suspected thief, appeared in court yesterday and were remanded in custody to November 15.
Dennis Tafirei Nyati, from the Police Protection Unit, and Stanley Muchimba were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi.
They were advised to approach the High Court for bail considerations.
The State said that last Saturday, the two got information that Emilington Machinga and the now deceased, Blessing Zadzi, were involved in the theft of six scaffold poles in Glen Lorne, Harare.
The apprehended Emilington in the yard the following day and interrogated him, and he implicated Zadzi as his accomplice.
At around 10pm, they caught Zadzi and assaulted him with an iron bar while his legs were pinned under concrete weights.
They also allegedly assaulted him with a hose pipe and forced him to roll down a steep slope.
When they got to the bottom of the slope, they allegedly tortured him with hot plastic paper under his feet.
They took Zadzi to his father who stays in the same neighbourhood.
When he saw the condition of his son, he refused to accept him.
When they realised that Zadzi was unconscious, the two carried and dumped him in a bushy area next to a church shrine, where he was later found dead.