Coke dealers get a sniff of lenience

TWO Zimbabwean nationals who admitted this week that they had been caught dealing in cocaine and dagga in Windhoek almost five months ago were sentenced to a wholly-suspended jail term and a one-year term respectively yesterday.

Had it not been for the personal circumstances of the two women who admitted guilt on two drug-dealing charges on Monday, he would not have handed such relatively lenient sentences to them, Magistrate Christie Mostert remarked when he sentenced the women in the Windhoek Regional Court. Magistrate Mostert sentenced Privillage Zindere, a 26-year-old mother of two children, including a baby born in custody almost two months after Zindere’s arrest on the drug-dealing charges, to five years’ imprisonment, with the whole term suspended for five years on condition that Zindere is not again convicted of drug dealing committed during the period of suspension.Zindere’s co-accused, Shenzira Ncube (31), did not get off so lightly, though.Magistrate Mostert sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment, of which four years were conditionally suspended for a period of five years.Ncube, who is a widowed mother of three children, of which the youngest is mentally disabled, had played a bigger role than Zindere in the drug deal that led to their arrest, the Magistrate commented during the sentencing.The women’s defence counsel, Andre Louw, told the Magistrate after their pleas on Monday that Zindere and Ncube had been arrested on March 22 after they were caught in a Police trap in which they were trying to sell about 185 grams of cocaine, valued at about N$92 500, and 6,21 kilograms of dagga, valued at some N$18 630, to a Police informer and an undercover Police officer.As Louw relayed his instructions about the trap to the court, the two women had acted as a link between another drug dealer, who had told them that he had drugs that he wanted to sell, and the Police informer, who had approached them and told them that he was interested in buying some drugs.Zindere and Ncube came to Namibia from Zimbabwe in February with the aim of selling crafts from Zimbabwe before they got involved in the drugs trade, Louw said.During the sentencing, Magistrate Mostert remarked that in his opinion he could take judicial notice of the state of affairs in Zimbabwe that had driven the women to leave that country.The situation in Zimbabwe however does not give anybody an excuse to go to another country and to corrupt and decay the economy and community in that country through something like drug dealing, he added.He said while the sentences he was imposing were “rather lenient”, they were based on the personal circumstances of Zindere and Ncube, including the fact that they have been in custody for almost five months already.The sentences should not be seen as an invitation to foreigners to come to Namibia in order to commit crime, he said.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab represented the State during the trial.Magistrate Mostert sentenced Privillage Zindere, a 26-year-old mother of two children, including a baby born in custody almost two months after Zindere’s arrest on the drug-dealing charges, to five years’ imprisonment, with the whole term suspended for five years on condition that Zindere is not again convicted of drug dealing committed during the period of suspension.Zindere’s co-accused, Shenzira Ncube (31), did not get off so lightly, though.Magistrate Mostert sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment, of which four years were conditionally suspended for a period of five years.Ncube, who is a widowed mother of three children, of which the youngest is mentally disabled, had played a bigger role than Zindere in the drug deal that led to their arrest, the Magistrate commented during the sentencing.The women’s defence counsel, Andre Louw, told the Magistrate after their pleas on Monday that Zindere and Ncube had been arrested on March 22 after they were caught in a Police trap in which they were trying to sell about 185 grams of cocaine, valued at about N$92 500, and 6,21 kilograms of dagga, valued at some N$18 630, to a Police informer and an undercover Police officer.As Louw relayed his instructions about the trap to the court, the two women had acted as a link between another drug dealer, who had told them that he had drugs that he wanted to sell, and the Police informer, who had approached them and told them that he was interested in buying some drugs.Zindere and Ncube came to Namibia from Zimbabwe in February with the aim of selling crafts from Zimbabwe before they got involved in the drugs trade, Louw said.During the sentencing, Magistrate Mostert remarked that in his opinion he could take judicial notice of the state of affairs in Zimbabwe that had driven the women to leave that country.The situation in Zimbabwe however does not give anybody an excuse to go to another country and to corrupt and decay the economy and community in that country through something like drug dealing, he added.He said while the sentences he was imposing were “rather lenient”, they were based on the personal circumstances of Zindere and Ncube, including the fact that they have been in custody for almost five months already.The sentences should not be seen as an invitation to foreigners to come to Namibia in order to commit crime, he said.Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab represented the State during the trial.