WILDLEX

On the 21 October 2016, the co-offenders went to the Djoum central market to buy bush meat (protected animals’ carcasses Classes A & B species). Some of them were to stock their restaurant, others were to resell and others for personal consumption.

In November 2015, the accused ANGO SOUA Simplice entered a Gabonese forest with gun for large scale hunting (Calibre 12) and ammunitions for poaching. While in the forest, he was surprised by Gabones park rangers who opened fire on him, forcing him to run off after being shot around his abdomen.

The court held that in this matter, it was common cause that a South African Court had jurisdiction to decide ownership of the Sable based on the cession agreement. The court found that the cession agreement had been signed by the attorney, acting under the authority of the first respondent.

A simultaneous appeal and review was brought concerning the customary rights of the Dwesa-Cwebe communities to access marine resources in a marine protected area. An appeal was brought against the conviction and sentence of the accused for, among others, fishing or attempting to fish in a marine protected area.

This dispute concerns the ownership of a valuable herd of Cape Buffalo, which escaped from the Thomas Baines Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape, a provincial nature reserve managed in the public interest by the appellant, the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency ("the Agency").

The court considered an appeal on the basis that the magistrate erred in denying the accused bail and that the magistrate erred in finding that the accused may abscond and fail to attend trial due to his ability to enter and leave the Republic without going through a border.

The appellant was found to have been complicit in the transaction where a fake rhino horn was sold in a police trap for R350 000. He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. The appellant unsuccessfully appealed to the Free State High Court against his conviction and sentence.

The matter is an application for leave to appeal a judgement that was given in the a judgment of the Northern Cape High Court for contravening certain sections of the Nature and Environmental Conservation Ordinance 19 of 1974 which prohibit the harbouring of certain animals without a permit.

The accused were previously convicted on various counts, by the same court and the matter came for sentencing on a later date. The Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1977, prescribes a discretionary minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment per count for amounts of more than R500 000; for the ten counts on theft of rhino horns.

The appellant was found guilty in the Upington Magistrate’s Court, and appealed his conviction and sentence to the Northern Cape High Court where the conviction and sentence on the first count was set aside, and the conviction on the second count confirmed but the sentence was amended.