3 ‘Gule Wamukulu’ Epworth Nyau Dance Group Members Kidnap Girl (11)

TWO men and a woman from an Epworth Nyau dance group are answering charges of kidnapping a female juvenile aged 11 for several days.

Adam Phiri, 32, Rita Tembo, 23, and Elvis Nhete, 27 were remanded in custody to a later day pending trial after their bail application was turned down.

They appeared before magistrate Tafadzwa Muvhami last week.

Court heard the group goes by the name Gule Wamukulu and that Phiri was the founding member.

According to the state, the girl got carried away by the appearance of the three who were in their traditional attire on November 15.

Prosecutors said the little girl was lured by their dances while the three were running along the streets and followed them to their home.

She spent that day at dancer’s homestead watching them dance.

Later that day in the evening that Nhete called the girl inside a room where they met Tembo.

Court heard Tembo was in company of another person the complainant could not identify.

Tembo and Nhete then allegedly produced knives and ordered the girl to remain silent threatening her with death if she ever attempted to alert anyone.

The girl was locked in that room for days and would be given food and escorted to the rest room by Tembo.

On another day, Phiri who was the leader of the group, hired a kombi. He blindfolded the girl and took her to a thick forest where they met a huge number of other group members.

The girl was forced to sing Malawian songs and to imitate their dance styles.

After the ceremony, they took the girl back to Epworth and met two women who they asked to take the girl, alleging that she was going to a certain church.

The court heard the girl was then spotted by her relatives who were searching for her.

The case was reported to the police, leading to the trio’s arrest.