Social media pranksters who staged a dramatic production about a cheating couple that got stuck together while having sex may find themselves on the receiving end of the joke after police decided to charge them with common nuisance.
While the production that broke the net over the weekend, sending tongues wagging over the clinging phenomenon may seem harmless, police say the artists will be held criminally liable.
Today, Acting Officer Commanding for No.17 District- Goitsemodimo Molapisi, confirmed that they have arrested a 24-year-old woman and that they were still on the hunt for the rest of the crew members.
“Although we are still investigating, I can confirm that we have one woman in our cells and she will be arraigned before court this morning or tomorrow. We are looking for the owner of the truck and those who were covered in a blanket. The holding charge for now is common nuisance but we are going to explore other avenues because this is cyber crime. This left the country shocked and confused as they thought that it was indeed true,” Molapisi said.
The Station Commander said it was their first time to record such an incident in their jurisdiction, noting that the incident has disturbed a lot of people. “They are copying things that are happening in other countries but we cannot allow that,” concluded Molapisi.
When reached for comment, the man behind the prank- Given Carter Ncube, denied any knowledge of the arrest. “I am in Francistown and Shakawe police have not contacted us. I do not know the woman they arrested because I was speaking to the one in my team and she did not know anything. I will be waiting, maybe the police will call,” he said.
While police believe that Ncube and his crew are criminally liable for the prank, Francistown based attorney- Kagiso Jani, says he does not see anything wrong with it. “In my view there is no proof that a crime was committed or that there was any intent to commit a crime. It was good public awareness that urges people to stay away from married people. The actors are artists doing their job in their right,” he said.
Ncube is a 32-year-old Tonota born comedian who has of late taken social media by storm with his craft.
Some of his productions include a video of an animated young lady publicly dressing down her boyfriend who had just proposed at Francistown’s Nswazwi mall.
In the video that was shared across the world, the lady is heard ordering her embarrassed boyfriend to get up and look for employment before thinking about going down on one knee.
The video trended in South Africa, Nigeria, UK, Zambia and made it to a lot of online publications.
The video was followed up by another hoax to celebrate the return of alcohol two weeks ago, in which a lady confronts her boyfriend for buying another woman a six-pack of beer.
Again the convincing, expertly acted sketch was completely made up.
Ncube’s latest production and his impending arrest are expected to ignite fierce public debate on the thin line between a prank and a crime.
How is this a crime? I don’t agree with these pranksters but I hardly think this is a crime that people have to go to jail for.
There are bigger issues in this country than looking for some comedians making strange pranks.