MBOMBELA – Three Mozambican residents charged with rhino poaching appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court earlier this month. The provisional trial date of January 27, 2015 has now been confirmed.
Messrs. Louis Zitha, Simon Lubisi and Saidi Alfredo Mboshini were arrested in the Lower Sabi Section of the Kruger National Park (KNP) after they allegedly killed a white rhino on October 26. A shootout between the accused and the Skukuza-based rhino-task team of the South African Police Service is said to have preceded thair arrest. The shootout resulted in the fatal shooting of a suspect. According to a press release issued by the National Mecia Centre of the SAPS on November 3, a set of rhino horns, a rifle with no serial number, an axe, a silencer, two cellular phones and eight rounds of ammunition, were found in possession of the suspects.
The suspects will have to answer to charges of possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, possession of dangerous weapons, illegal hunting of a protected animal and trespassing in a national park.
The three accuseds’ bail has been extended and will return to court on January 27, 2014.
