News / National
Zim woman gets 15 years behind bars for drug peddling
21 Feb 2012 at 22:04hrs | Views
A HARARE woman, Miriam Chatindo (31) was yesterday jailed for an effective 15 years, for attempting to smuggle 270 grammes of cocaine worth over US$18 000 into the country from India. Chatindo of Highfield was arrested on November 24 last year soon after landing at the Harare International Airport from India aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane.
She denied the charge of unlawfully dealing in dangerous drugs and giving false information of her true identity to the police when her trial opened before Harare magistrate Ms Anita Tshuma.
She claimed that someone had given her a parcel to take to Zimbabwe and did not know the contents.
After a fully contested trial, the court found Chatindo guilty of the offence due to overwhelming evidence.
She was also slapped with five months in prison for giving false information about her identity, which was wholly suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
In Zimbabwe crimes involving such drugs attract a mandatory sentence of not less than 15 years. In passing sentence, the court found against Chatindo that she committed a very serious offence.
"The accused said she was sent with the parcel by someone; surprisingly she did not reveal the identity of that person," said Ms Tshuma.
"She used another person's passport which is proof that she was hiding something.
"With this conduct, the accused knew what she was doing."
In mitigation, Chatindo had pleaded for the court's leniency saying she was a single parent with four children.
Chatindo pleaded for pardon saying she would never commit a similar offence.
However, Ms Tshuma ruled that her mitigation did not hold water for there was no special circumstances to warrant the court to disregard the mandatory sentence in her case.
Prosecutor Mr Tapiwa Kasema had earlier urged the court to impose a mandatory sentence on the basis that Chatindo was part of a syndicate of drug traffickers, considering that the cocaine was brought from India.
"In the absence of special circumstances, the offence attracts a mandatory sentence of not less than 15 years," he said.
The court heard that when Chatindo was arrested, she produced a Zimbabwean passport belonging to Sylvia Madiye, Number BN162815.
She lied that the passport was hers.
Police officers interrogated her about her India visit and she failed to give a satisfactory answer, prompting them to search her luggage.
They opened her bag and discovered a small maroon briefcase, which they opened and found a khaki-covered plastic bag containing 270 grammes of beige coloured- substance, which they suspected to be a drug.
The substance was taken for weighing before it was sent for forensic examination.
Chatindo was immediately arrested and ordered to produce her identity particulars.
She lied to Detective Assistant Inspector Wilfred Chibage that her name was Angela Chigariro and had no identification particulars with her.
The court heard that detectives carried out further investigations with the Registrar General's Office and established that her true name was Miriam Chatindo.
She denied the charge of unlawfully dealing in dangerous drugs and giving false information of her true identity to the police when her trial opened before Harare magistrate Ms Anita Tshuma.
She claimed that someone had given her a parcel to take to Zimbabwe and did not know the contents.
After a fully contested trial, the court found Chatindo guilty of the offence due to overwhelming evidence.
She was also slapped with five months in prison for giving false information about her identity, which was wholly suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.
In Zimbabwe crimes involving such drugs attract a mandatory sentence of not less than 15 years. In passing sentence, the court found against Chatindo that she committed a very serious offence.
"The accused said she was sent with the parcel by someone; surprisingly she did not reveal the identity of that person," said Ms Tshuma.
"She used another person's passport which is proof that she was hiding something.
"With this conduct, the accused knew what she was doing."
In mitigation, Chatindo had pleaded for the court's leniency saying she was a single parent with four children.
However, Ms Tshuma ruled that her mitigation did not hold water for there was no special circumstances to warrant the court to disregard the mandatory sentence in her case.
Prosecutor Mr Tapiwa Kasema had earlier urged the court to impose a mandatory sentence on the basis that Chatindo was part of a syndicate of drug traffickers, considering that the cocaine was brought from India.
"In the absence of special circumstances, the offence attracts a mandatory sentence of not less than 15 years," he said.
The court heard that when Chatindo was arrested, she produced a Zimbabwean passport belonging to Sylvia Madiye, Number BN162815.
She lied that the passport was hers.
Police officers interrogated her about her India visit and she failed to give a satisfactory answer, prompting them to search her luggage.
They opened her bag and discovered a small maroon briefcase, which they opened and found a khaki-covered plastic bag containing 270 grammes of beige coloured- substance, which they suspected to be a drug.
The substance was taken for weighing before it was sent for forensic examination.
Chatindo was immediately arrested and ordered to produce her identity particulars.
She lied to Detective Assistant Inspector Wilfred Chibage that her name was Angela Chigariro and had no identification particulars with her.
The court heard that detectives carried out further investigations with the Registrar General's Office and established that her true name was Miriam Chatindo.
Source - TH
