A SUSPECTED South African drug mule, Isaura Masinga,
arrested on landing at Harare International Airport in May this year, yesterday
won a temporary court reprieve after magistrate Josephine Sande upheld a High
Court order staying her trial until the superior court has disposed of the
application for review.
This follows Masinga’s High Court application challenging
the dismissal of her application for discharge.
Part of the order granted by Justice Joseph Musakwa read:
“The first and second respondents (Sande and Prosecutor-General) be and are,
hereby, ordered to suspend/stop the proceedings in the matter of State vs Masinga,
CRB 5057/17, until the determination of the application for review pending
before this court in the matter of Masinga vs Sande and the Acting
Prosecutor-General, HC 6794/17.”
Masinga was arrested on May 5 while coming from Brazil
after the authorities received a tip-off that she was allegedly carrying
cocaine.
She was immediately referred for an ultra-sound scan at
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, which initially confirmed the presence of
ingested body packs in her abdomen.
However, a second scan produced negative results, prompting
the State to suspect that she could have passed her stool unguarded at remand
prison, thereby, disposing of the evidence on the drug trafficking charges.
The State then changed the charges from cocaine possession
to defeating the course of justice, saying Masinga lied to them that she was
pregnant to avoid a scan.
Masinga was represented by Harare lawyer Nickiel Mushangwe. Newsday
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