The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa Post Correspondent
A 29-YEAR-OLD woman Matilda Mafunga, who was arrested for selling dagga at her vending stall in Mutasa, has escaped jail after being fined by a Mutare magistrate.
Mafunga, of Vhumbunu village under Chief Mutasa, was convicted on her own guilty plea by magistrate Ms Perseverance Makala.
The dagga weighed 300g.
She was ordered to pay a fine of $300 or risk three months imprisonment.
She was not given a time frame to pay, and the dagga was forfeited to the State for destruction.
In her mitigation, Mafunga said she had resorted to selling dagga at her vending stall in Watsomba because it was fast moving than fruits and vegetables, which were failing to sustain her family.
“Your Worship, I apologise for selling the dagga at my stall. I had resorted to selling dagga because it was on high demand. Vegetables and fruits are earning me a very small income,” she said before pleading for the court’s leniency.
Ms Perseverance Musukuto prosecuted.
The court heard that police officers received a tip-off that Mafunga was in possession of a plastic bag which was full of dagga at her vending stall.
When police approached her at Watsomba business centre, they demanded to inspect the contents of the plastic bag which she was holding at the time.
She handed the plastic bag, which was then full of loose dagga to the police officers, and was immediately arrested.
Meanwhile, another dagga peddler from Westlea, in Mutare, was also arrested after being found in possession of 500g of the same dangerous drug.
Ephraim Mandeya (32) was remanded out of custody to a later date for sentencing. He was intercepted in Westlea on December 3, at around midnight by police officers who were on patrol.
Police officers spotted and ordered Mandeya and Panashe Mungwandi to stop with the intention of establishing their identities and searching them.
“The police also wanted to search the two as the area they were at was hard hit by robbery cases. 174 sachets of dagga were recovered from Mandeya’s sling bag and nothing was recovered from Mungwandi,” said Miss Musukuto.
He was then arrested and the dagga weighed 517g
