Online Reporter
Lovemore Kadzura-Mutare Bureau
A NYAZURA couple has been sentenced to prison for cultivating dagga at its homestead and selling it to the community, including to inmates at a local prison.
Laina Mirrer (30) and her husband Kuziwa Mudaniri (46) appeared before Rusape magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe, facing charges of dealing in and cultivating dangerous drugs, as defined in Section 156(1)(a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act.
The pair, which was not legally represented, pleaded guilty to both counts.
Magistrate Mahwe sentenced Mirrer to 18 months imprisonment, suspending six months on condition of good behaviour. The remaining 12 months were set aside on condition that she completes 420 hours of community service at Groobspring Primary School.
Mudaniri received a 24-month sentence, with six months suspended on condition of good behaviour. He will serve an effective 18 months in prison.
The offence came to light after two inmates, Arnold Hamunakwadi and Farai Mbakwe, sneaked out of Little Kraal Farm prison to purchase dagga from the couple’s homestead.
According to prosecutor Ms Faith Mutukwa, on February 25, 2026, at around 2 pm, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services officer Last Sarai received a tip-off that the two prisoners had left the facility to buy drugs.
Sarai proceeded to the accused persons’ homestead and encountered the two inmates on their way back. A search conducted on Hamunakwadi revealed four twists of dagga. The matter was reported to ZRP Nyazura.
Three police officers attended the scene and recovered 23 twists of dagga, along with loose unpacked dagga, weighing a total of 0.222kg from Mirrer. She admitted that the dagga belonged to her husband, Mudaniri, implicating him in the case.
Mudaniri was arrested on February 26, 2026, around 5 pm. He confessed to owning the dagga and said that he had instructed his wife to sell it in his absence. He failed to produce a licence permitting him to deal in dagga.
Further investigations led police to the couple’s garden, where Mirrer showed them 102 well-maintained dagga plants.
The plants were uprooted and taken as exhibits. They were measured at ZIMPOST Rusape in Mirrer’s presence and had an average height of 129.6 centimetres. The plants can be produced in court as exhibits, the court heard.
