A thief, who was caught in the act stealing a chicken, has been forced to eat the raw chicken.

He was forced to eat the chicken raw after he was caught in the act at Pumula suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

After being nabbed, the thief reportedly said he was “desperate” because of “January disease; a colloquial term that refers to the financial strain many experience at the beginning of the year after splurging during the festive season.

His pleas fell on unsympathetic ears, and the merciless group insisted that he either devoured the pilfered broiler or endured a severe thrashing.

The thief reluctantly consumed the uncooked chicken in front of onlookers, all while the scene was recorded by numerous cellphone cameras.

A resident of Pumula suburb in Bulawayo told B-Metro; “With blood dripping from the corner of his lips, he would occasionally cough out a feather or two as he screwed up his face like someone swallowing the bitterest gall.

"The beatings, somehow, were worse for him as he ate the obviously unpalatable meal to stop them. I think he will never eat chicken or white meat again, for as long as he lives.”