FOUR Hwange men who allegedly teamed up and fatally assaulted a man they suspected to be a thief have appeared in court facing a murder charge.

Twin brothers Ashford and Joseph Nasilele (34), Greatjoy Nyoni (25) and Brian Ndlovu (23) were arrested on Friday after they used switches to assault Justice Tshuma.

The four, who all reside at house No20 Lothian Road, Raylton in Hwange were not asked to plead when they appeared before Hwange magistrate, Ms Barbara Phiri. They were remanded in custody to June 25.

Initially police investigators were told that Tshuma went to number 20 Lothian Road intending to seek services of a hooker and found another man in the room, leading to a fight. The house is allegedly used as a brothel by commercial sex workers.

Further investigations, however, showed that Tshuma was new in the suburb where he intended to see a pastor from an unnamed church and was attacked while trying to locate the pastor’s house.

Prosecuting, Mr Vumindaba Mangena said the accused used switches to assault Tshuma all over the body until he became unconscious.

“On June 7 around 3AM, a woman identified as Sitali Nasilele was awakened by noise of the now deceased who was screaming for help outside her yard. She went to check and found Ashford Nasilele holding the now deceased by the hand questioning him about what he was doing in the yard,” said the prosecutor.

Nyoni came out of his room and accused the now deceased of being a thief, the court was told.

Joseph and Ndlovu also came out of their rooms and the four plucked switches from a mango tree and started assaulting a helpless Tshuma before letting him go.

The court was told that Tshuma later returned to the house and begged his four attackers to take him to hospital as he was in deep pain.

Instead, the four allegedly further assaulted him until he became unconscious. They allegedly dragged him out of the yard and dumped his body at a nearby dumpsite.