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Court Reporter

TRANSPORTER Alphonse Mushanawani, who was jailed for eight years and had his commuter omnibus forfeited to the State after being convicted of dealing and possessing 710kg of dagga in 2019  has been acquitted by the Supreme Court.

Mushanawani, who was jointly convicted along with Brighton Dinha, was set free after the Supreme Court noted that the magistrate presiding over the matter erred in convicting him in 2019.

The duo was initially jailed for 10 years before the magistrate set aside two years of the sentence on condition of good behavior leaving them serving eight years behind bars.

Irked by the court’s conviction and sentence, Mushanawani approached the higher court challenging his conviction and sentence.

He argued that the presiding magistrate failed to pick contradictions in police and witnesses’ testimonies during trial.

He also said the trial court failed to consider his defence alibi, raised by lawyer Mr Admire Rubaya,  when the police investigations were still underway.

Mushanawani had told the court during trial that he was not at the arrest scene, he had hired out the kombi and that police failed to uplift fingerprints at the steering wheel of the kombi during investigation.The Supreme Court upheld his appeal and acquitted him of the offence.