A 50-YEAR-OLD Penhalonga man was on Thursday sentenced to one year behind bars after he was convicted by a Mutare magistrate court of cultivating 173 plants of dagga.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI
Patrick Makuwaza from Nyamukwarara Village 4 under Chief Mutasa will serve an effective 10 months after magistrate Anne Ndiraya suspended two months of the sentence on condition that he will not commit the same offence in the next five years.
It is the State case that on the 17th of this month two police detectives reacted to a tip-off and proceeded to the accused’s homestead.
The detectives questioned Makuwaza who later led them to the exact place where he had planted the dagga about 500 metres from his homestead and 173 plants were found in his garden.
The accused again led the police officers to his homestead where a search was conducted and a sack of prepared dagga was recovered and an arrest was made.
On the 19th of this month the detectives measured the height of the cultivated dagga and it found to be up to 2,25 metres tall. Shepherd Chivarika prosecuted.
