Kitwe Dagga Smokers Jailed 6 Months

THE Kitwe Magistrate’s Court has sentenced two men of Kitwe to six months imprisonment each with hard labour for trafficking in 55 grammes marijuana.
This is in a case in which Stanford Kazenga, 30, and Christropher Kapata, 27, were charged with trafficking in a psychotropic substance.
The offence is contrary to Section six of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act Chapter 96 of the Laws of Zambia, as read with Statutory Instrument number 119 of 1995.
Particulars of the offence are that Kazenga and Kapata on June 17, 2013 in Kitwe, did traffic in a psychotropic substance, namely 55 grammes of cannabis, a product of cannabis sativa.
Passing the sentence on Friday, magistrate Maxwell Mainsa said he had taken note of Kazenga’s and Kapata’s mitigation and the fact that they are first offenders who readily admitted the charge.
“Prison conditions are not factors that the court takes into account when sending people to prison. It is not the duty of the court to make prison conditions favourable,” Mr Mainsa said.
“Since both of you have confessed to be perpetual smokers and that if you don’t smoke you fail to perform, it shows that you need to be helped to stop smoking. So I must keep you away from accessing marijuana,” Mr Mainsa said.
He sentenced Kazenga and Kapata to six months imprisonment with hard labour each with effect from June 17, 2013 and granted them leave to appeal to the High Court within 14 days.
Facts before the court are that on the material day, an assistant Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officer on duty in Kitwe apprehended Kazenga and Kapata whom he suspected of trafficking in marijuana.
After searching them, the DEC officer found the two convicts with marijuana wrapped in a piece of paper.
Kazenga and Kapata were apprehended and the suspected drug was taken to Lusaka for analysis where it was confirmed to be marijuana weighing 55 grammes.
Under warn-and-caution, they both admitted the charge.
In mitigation, Kazenga vowed never to use drugs because the conditions in prison are harsh while Kapata said he had learnt that crime does not pay.

Posted by Editor on July 5, 2013. Filed under CRIME. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry