Five female villagers from Wedza, Mashonaland East province recently arrested for stripping naked a girl and brutally assaulting her with tree branches while recording the whole incident on video have been convicted.

The video went viral on social media platforms and prompted the police to investigate, leading to their arrest and subsequent court appearance.

The five, who included four juveniles under the age of 18 and one aged 19, years were found guilty of all four counts of aggravated indecent assault, cyber-bullying, unlawful detention and assault which they committed in Wedza on July 4.

Vimbai Mike (19) and a 17-year-old, who is married and has two children, were sentenced to an effective five years in jail each for indecent assault, one year for cyber-bullying for posting her video on social media, one year for unlawful detention and another one year for assault which will, however, run concurrently within the five-year effective term.

The other three juveniles were spared custodial sentences on condition they will not commit a similar offence for the next five years.

The State case was that on July 4, 2024, at 1100 hours, Rudo Manjere, Lilly Rose Munyoro and Lillian Chido Munyoro lured the victim, Mavis Mada (18), to Vimbai Mike's homestead in Mupfuuri village on the pretext that they wanted to give her vegetable seedlings.

The court heard that the suspects locked up the victim in one of the huts and stripped her naked. They took turns to assault the victim with sticks and went on to insert three sticks into her private parts while recording a video.

The victim fell unconscious and the suspects poured water on her before freeing her at 1500 hours.

The arrest of the suspects led to the recovery of a Vivo cellphone which had been used to record the incident.