UB Lecturer In Hot Soup Over Obscene Video
Pini Bothoko | Monday May 6, 2019 12:53
The Central Police Station recently summoned the 51-year-old Zimbabwean lecturer for questioning, and seized his two mobile phones for further investigation.
Last week a video of a naked woman, which was shot at Avani circulated on different social media platforms.The video shocked the nation and had many wagging their tongues, commentating across social media platforms speculating on what could have happened.
Some of the people who commented on the issue strongly criticised the way the issue was handled, and also criticised those who continued to share the video.
In the video, the woman is captured removing all her clothes and throwing the items by the entrance of Avani. The naked woman is seen wrestling with the hotel’s security to get inside the premises.
The video, which lasted for over a minute shows security guards dragging her out of the hotel.
The woman who was initially shouting, “I don’t care”, later started crying and screaming “Help me, help me!”, as a female security officer dragged her by the arm, and left her lying naked outside.
Two women later approached her with a cloth and covered her up.Some social network users expressed disgust and disappointment at the security officer, who happened to be female, arguing that instead of pulling the naked woman outside, she should have taken her inside and covered her up.
Central Police station commander, Superintendent Mothusi Phadi, confirmed that they have located and questioned the man suspected to be the one who shot the video, which ended up going viral across social media platforms.
He said the incident occurred on April 26, 2019 at around midnight at Avani Gaborone Resort and Casino, where the woman had been out for a fun night, prior to the unfortunate incident.
“She has mild depression. We were told that she got into a misunderstanding with others whilst entertaining themselves and security officers tried to calm them until they decided to escort her outside the hotel.
After being escorted outside she allegedly started forcing her way inside and security officers continued blocking her until she undressed and ended up causing a scene,” Phadi said.
Phadi said they have charged the UB lecturer who shot and shared the video with the offence of ‘publicising obscene material’, as stipulated in section 16 of the Cyber Crime Act.
“We have seized his two mobile phones and they have been sent to our technical team for further investigation. If we establish that indeed he distributed the video that went viral he will face the law.
This will be a test case for cyber crime, because we have been warning members of the public to refrain from taking and sharing obscene videos on social media platforms,” Phadi said.
The police boss said they are deeply concerned by the growing persistent immoral behaviour in which some individuals or groups exchange or distribute pornographic or obscene material on social media.
“People should learn to respect each other’s privacy.
We have realised that capturing almost everything they see and sharing it on social media amuses a majority of people. They even share serious things like car accidents that have claimed people’s lives before even the victim’s family members have been made aware of the accidents,” he said.