Community service for smuggling truck driver

Caution Maturure (36) of Kent Estates in Norton was convicted on his own plea when he appeared before Karoi magistrate Mr Obidience Matare last Wednesday.
Mr Matare had sentenced Maturure to 15 months in jail for contravening the Customs and Excise Act. He, however, suspended four months on condition of good behaviour while the remaining 11 were commuted to community service at Manyame Primary School in Chinhoyi. Maturure started his sentence the following day.
The six counts Maturure faced were considered as one for the purposes of sentencing.
For contravening Section 174 (1)(d) of the same Act, Mr Matare slapped Maturure with an eight-month jail sentence which he wholly suspended for the next five years, on condition Maturure does not commit a similar offence.
Prosecutor Mr Simon Tapiwa told the court that on April 29 this year, Maturure arrived at Chirundu One Stop Border Post from Zambia driving a truck belonging to Cymex Transport of Beitbridge.
Maturure who was travelling to Harare with a truckload of maize had 315 kg of clothing stashed in the load. He did not declare the goods to Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials. Maturure was, however, arrested when police in Karoi mounted a roadblock and impounded the vehicle.
Police searched the load and recovered the bales of clothing hidden in the load.
Innocent Machokoto (23), Epiphania Maguranyanga (20), Conway Mahuneta (32), Amos Mvembe (36), Zorodzai Magurambanje (30) and Dignity Madambu (26) — all from Harare and Chitungwiza — were implicated, arrested and  have since been fined US$100 each.
In mitigation, Maturure said he had already  lost his job and the passengers had forfeited US$600 paid for services.