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Law comes down hard on two rhino poachers

Date: 19 August 2016 By: Isabel Venter

The law came down hard on two men in the Louis Trichardt Regional Court last Wednesday who were found guilty of poaching a rhino.

Ignatius Kubai (35) and Obed Chauke (38) were caught during June 2014 on a farm in the Alldays area that belongs to Mr Johan Kruger. Ignatius and Chauke were spotted, resting under a tree, by hunters from the neighbouring farm and chased down until they were apprehended.

Both stood trial on various counts of the hunting of a specially protected wild animal, the picking up or removing of dead wild animals, conspiracy to hunt and deal in rhino horn and the illegal possession of rhino horn without the necessary permits. The police found damning evidence in the form of a .375 hunting rifle, with a silencer, ammunition, a bloody hunting knife and two rhino horns in the possession of Kubai and Chauke.

During their bail application, Kubai and Chauke strongly denied the charges brought against them. Kubai said he was on Kruger’s farm to practice his rifle skills by using small animals and other wildlife as shooting targets. Kubai was also of the opinion that if the police had delved deeper into the case they would have been able to prove his innocence. He further pointed out that during 2008 he was involved in 11 cases involving rhinos. According to Kubai he handed himself over to the police and assisted them to sell rhino horns to his Chinese buyer, which later led to the buyer’s arrest.  

This particular argument did hold up in the court last week. “Kubai had prior experience to the trade of rhino horn. He assisted the police so that he could escape and did escape prosecution for rhino-related matters. Therefore, he was granted an opportunity to change his destructive behaviour, yet, he himself chose once again the wrong route six years later by becoming an illegal hunter himself,” said state prosecutor Ms Hilke Janse van Rensburg.

“Kubai thought he could get away with it again,” added Janse van Rensburg.

During the two men’s trial, it was revealed that the rhino was a cow that lost Kruger valuable breeding stock. After this poaching incident, he sold all his rhinos at a loss of R7 million. In addition, he also had to retrench seven employees, because he could no longer afford them. Kruger specifically farmed with rhinos in an effort to conserve the species.

Magistrate P V Mudau agreed that a fine would not been an appropriate deterrent and sentenced both Kubai and Chauke to 11 years’ direct imprisonment.

 

 
 
 

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

 
 

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