Justice Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that the State had failed to prove there was reasonable ground to place Bennett on his defence.
The court ruling followed an application by Bennett’s lawyer, Ms Beatrice Mtetwa, for discharge at the close of the State’s case.
In his ruling, Justice Bhunu said the State’s case was weakened by its star witness, Peter Michael Hitschmann, who turned hostile and gave unfavourable evidence.
During the trial, Attorney-General Mr Joha-nnes Tomana successfully applied to have Hitschmann impeached and to testify as a hostile witness.
Evidence from the State’s computer expert, Mr Danshed Mutsetse, was unreliable as he demonstrated lack of knowledge in his field, Justice Bhunu said.
"Having carefully considered the above findings of fact and law, we came to the unanimous conclusion that the State has failed to prove a prima facie case against the accused on a balance of probabilities thereby entitling him to his acquittal at the close of the State’s case," Justice Bhunu told a packed courtroom.
He said there was no evidence to link Ben-nett to the alleged crime, either from Hits-chmann’s or police evidence.
Justice Bhunu ruled that police had not properly warned and cautioned Hitschmann before they recorded a statement from him.
Hitschmann alleged in court that he gave the statement implicating Bennett after security agents tortured him.
"The witness told the court that his tormentors were drunk and disorderly such that in their drunken state they omitted to make him sign the statement.
"Having noted the omission, he then deliberately refrained from signing it, signifying his lack of free volition," Justice Bhunu said.
The court found Hitschmann’s statement, therefore, inadmissible as evidence. Justice Bhunu said the State had called him to testify knowing fully well that he was likely to give evidence adverse to their case.
This was after he had written to the AG’s Office absolving Bennett of any wrongdoing and complicity with him.
"Not surprisingly when he appeared in court, the witness gave evidence, which was unfavourable to the State’s case, which heavily leans in favour of the accused," the judge said.
Turning to email evidence, the court castigated Mr Mutsetse for giving unreliable and erroneous evidence that bordered on "ignorance and arrogance".
"The depth of his ignorance concerning these matters as exposed during cross-examination was amazing, to say the least considering that he professes himself to be a computer expert.
"He made a fatal error when he identified a fake e-mail that had been created in court as being genuine. Having previously steadfastly testified that the date and time inscribed by the mail server could not be altered or reversed, Mr Mutsetse had to eat humble pie when it was demonstrated in open court that this could be done."
The judge noted Mr Mutsetse had denied existence of computer forensic personnel and had shown ignorance of past cases were false e-mails were tracked down.
During trial, Hitschmann denied he had sent e-mails to Bennett, saying security agents had fabricated these during investigations.
"It appears that no timeous investigations were made to trace the source and destination of the e-mails in 2006 when the offence was allegedly committed.
"It seems no investigations were carried out to ascertain whether the accused owned or possessed a computer or whether or not he had sent or received any of the disputed e-mails," he said.
The judge, however, commended the State for putting a "brave fight under difficult circumstances".
He hailed the AG’s defence of a constitutionally elected government, but added that courts were like referees who were there to uphold justice.
"One cannot, therefore, dive at the centre circle and expect the referee to award a penalty," the judge said.
Both Mr Tomana and Ms Mtetwa welcomed the judgement.
"It is the High Court and its decision is binding," said Mr Tomana soon after the judge had delivered his judgement.
The State alleged that when police arrested Hitschmann in 2006 following the discovery of an arms cache in Manicaland, the ammunitions dealer implicated Bennett.
Bennett fled the country for South Africa and was arrested in February 2009 at Charles Prince Airport.
Source: Allafrica