A retired police officer, a former scout and a Zambian
national have been jailed for nine years for killing a black rhinoceros in
Bubye Valley Conservancy near Beitbridge last year.
Nhlanhla Nkomo (43), a retired assistant inspector in the
Zimbabwe Republic Police, Owen Nyoni (35), a former scout at the conservancy
and Zambian Stanley Katandiza (50) are accused of killing and de-horning a
rhino last year.
They all pleaded not guilty to contravening sections of the
Fire Arm, Criminal Law Reform and Codification and the Parks and Wildlife Acts
respectively when they appeared before Beitbridge magistrate Mr Toindepi Zhou,
who convicted them on the strength of the State evidence.
For the first count of illegal position of the fire arm,
they were slapped with three years’ imprisonment and were left with two after
one year was suspended conditionally for five years.
In addition, they were all sentenced to four years
imprisonment for unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon and one year was
also suspended for five years.
Mr Zhou condemned them to nine years in jail for unlawful
hunting of a protected animal and said all the sentences would run
concurrently.
The SKS rifle, 58 rounds of ammunition and the Honda Fit
they used in committing the crime were all forfeited to the State as part of
the evidence.
In addition, the accused were ordered to compensate the
State a total of US$120 000 being the value of the killed rhino.
Prosecuting, Mr Manyonga Kuvarega said between February and
May last year, the trio entered Bubye Valley Conservancy in Beitbridge and were
armed with an SKS rifle.
They illegally hunted and killed the black rhino bull,
which they later de-horned and went away.
He said the carcass of the rhino was spotted by game scouts
on 4 May in Samanyanga area of BVC. They then alerted their superiors, who
reported the matter to the police who recovered 1 x 7,62mm spent bullet heads
and two spent bullet fragments.
He said the accused were arrested and the fire arm was
recovered and taken to ballistics where it matched the bullets, which were used
to kill the rhino in 2018. Herald
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