A 32-YEAR-OLD woman, who was arrested at Harare International Airport while trying to smuggle 3,8 kilogrammes of cocaine worth $304 000 into the country, was yesterday sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by a Harare magistrate.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
Self-confessed sex worker, Beauty Mutashu will serve an eight years effective jail time after magistrate Lazini Ncube suspended two years on condition of good behaviour.
Mutashu, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, was yesterday given a chance to proffer special circumstances in committing the offence or be jailed for the mandatory 15 years.
Mutashu then told the court that she did not know how the drugs ended up in her luggage. She further said she suspected the police planted the drugs, claiming they were not hers.
The convict had earlier told court that she was sent to Brazil to collect one Mildred’s bags and was not aware that she was carrying cocaine in her bags.
“I did not know that I was carrying cocaine. I just thought I was carrying Mildred’s clothes as she is the one who sent me to collect her luggage in Brazil and everything was sealed. I could not open to see what was inside,” Mutashu said during bail application.
She then changed her statement after she had hired a legal practitioner, saying she went to Brazil to visit her boyfriend and did not know how the drugs ended up in her bags.
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During mitigation, Mutashu told court that she had four children and the youngest were twins, who were one year and eight months old. She further pleaded with the court that she was taking care of her mentally challenged mother and several orphaned children.
According to the State, on May 12 this year, detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics stationed at Harare International Airport received information that Mutashu was coming from Brazil abode an Emirates plane and that she was carrying dangerous drugs.
After the plane landed, Mutashu approached the immigration hall for clearance and tendered her passport. The immigration officer immediately identified her and alerted detectives.
Mutashu was found in possession of 11 new shirts wrapped in a silver rectangle aluminium foil containing cocaine, leading to her arrest.
