THREE soldiers were arraigned before Guruve magistrates’ court yesterday facing an armed robbery charge in Kanyemba.

The trio  Joseph Hlongwane (24), Twice Kamuriwo (28) and Wellington Ngwarati (31) were not asked to plead before magistrate Artwell Sanyatwe.

He remanded them in custody to February 17 and they are to appear at Bindura regional court.

The state alleges on October 29 last year the soldiers were patrolling along Zambezi River, Kanyemba where they met the complainant Rakidho Rabeka who was in company of his friends Tobias Chimata and Nobert Chimata carrying 15 bags shelled maize.

The soldiers who were all carrying Ak riffles and dressed in military gear approached the complainant and advised him that he was under arrest for smuggling maize to Zambia.

The soldiers forced Chimata brothers to fetch nine buckets of water from the river before  upon the complainant and ordered him to roll in the mud.

The suspects took turns to assault the complainant with sticks while forcing him to sing revolutionary songs.

After hours of assaults , the complainant was forced to load the maize in a canoe and was taken to Kanyemba police station where they made the complainant offload his maize into the soldiers’s barracks.

He was ordered to leave the police camp in heist and never report the matter to anyone.

Rabeka fled and returned two days letter at the police camp where he reported the robbery case leading to the arrest of the soldiers.

Carson Kundiona represented the state.