MBOMBELA – “We are fighting for the rhinos and the rangers, for our country, nature and those who love these things,” she said with utmost devotion.
Senior state prosecutor Ms Ansie Venter took no prisoners when she plead for harsh sentences against convicted poachers Messrs Silva Tubane (33) and Aboxubi Mucindi (19) in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The two admitted to poaching rhino in October last year.
Venter argued that it is the courts who must send out the loudest warning against prospective poachers. “The buck stops with the court. Judgements must prevent people from poaching,” she said.
She was emotional when she recalled some of the worst poaching scenes that she came across in her life. “We need to think about the juvenile rhinos that are being butchered by poachers when we pass sentences. South Africa has rhino orphanages -some of the baby rhinos there are 10 to 14 days old. Their horns are hacked off with axes and knives and they survived brutal attempted killings from poachers who wanted to poach their horns.”
The magistrate, Mr André Geldenhuys, sentenced the accused to 30 years behind bars each.
