Suspended Jail Sentence for Prophet who Beat Congregants
A Kwekwe self-styled prophet whose videos of assault of congregants went viral on social media has been sentenced to 12 months in jail.
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Simabvu Shiri, the founder of Spring of Living Waters Ministries faced three counts of assault against Peace Tapfumanei, Takudzwa Dube and Violet Ndhleleni.
He was found guilty on one of the charges by Magistrate Cherly Tembo and there was no evidence on the other two.
She found him guilty of assaulting Ndhleleni.
Tembo suspended three months of the sentence on condition Shiri does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.
She also commuted nine months to community service of 315 hours at Mbizo Police Station starting on March 6, 2024.
The prophet was convicted on his own plea of guilty.
Shiri was exposed when the audio of him assaulting Ndhleleni went viral on social media platforms.
The State case is that on February 14, 2024, Shiri invited Ndhleleni together with two other church members identified as Mai Ndlovu and Mai Mutema to his place.
Suspended Jail Sentence for Prophet who Beat Congregants
Upon arrival, he accused Ndhleleni of gossiping about him with other church members.
The complainant tried to explain herself but Pasi’s temper shot and he slapped Ndhleleni on the face and back several times.
The prophet’s habit of “disciplining” congregants took a dark turn when some brave individuals decided to report the incidents to the police.
For some time, congregants had endured the beatings in silence, considering them acceptable actions from an anointed man of God.
However, tensions reached a boiling point when the prophet allegedly assaulted Ms Violet Ndhleleni (54), accusing her of spreading falsehoods about him.
The situation escalated further when an audio recording of the incident surfaced, drawing public outrage.
Ms Ndhleleni, along with two members of the security team, Peace Tapfumaneyi and Takudzwa Dube, filed assault charges against the volatile clergyman.
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The court papers revealed that the security team members were slapped multiple times after being accused of failing to follow church protocol.
