HARARE: TWO men who were arrested at Plumtree Border Post while driving a vehicle which was carrying gold have been acquitted after the court failed to find incriminating evidence against them.
Francis Maranjesi, 47, and Nathan Mnaba, 29, were being accused of smuggling eight kilogrammes of gold worth more than $300,000 out of the country through the port of entry.
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They had filed an application for discharge at the close of State case through their legal counsel Nelson Mashizha of Sachikonye Ushe Legal Practitioners.
In response to the application Plumtree magistrate Livard Philemon said evidence by the three State witnesses lacked credibility as it was inconsistent.
He said the witnesses had further gone to accuse one another of lying before the court, thereby compromising their evidence.
Maranjesi and Mnaba were each facing two counts of unlawful possession of gold and smuggling.
Philemon said: “The State has failed to present incriminating evidence at this point. Accused One has denied knowledge of the gold which was in the car which he was driving. The State has failed to prove that indeed the accused had knowledge of the gold or made indications on the location of the gold.
“The State has been relying on the statements from the three witnesses but these statements have been inconsistent.
“Their statements are conflicting as they failed to agree on a number of aspects for example the number of exhibits and location of a bag which was in the car. This makes the credibility of their evidence questionable,’’ he said.
