Gang ‘chased and stabbed teen dealer’
BBC heads to war-torn South Sudan
STABBED Harry Baker
A GANG aged from 16 to 61 chased a teen boy and stabbed him to death, a jury heard yesterday.
Harry Baker, 17, of Cardiff, was “ruthlessly hunted” by eight attackers through Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Newport crown court was told.
Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said Harry, a drug dealer, had been “repeatedly stabbed” when his body was found in the town’s Docklands area.
Nathan Delafontaine, 32, Raymond Thompson, 47, Lewis Evans, 61, Leon Symons, 21, Ryan Palmer, 33, Peter McCarthy, 36, Leon Clifford, 22, and a boy of 16 all deny murder.
Mr Lewis said the defendants were rival drug dealers aggrieved Harry had “stolen their business”.
The trial continues.
A TIMELINE OF DECLINE
1907 The Northern White is officially identified as a distinct species of rhino.
Estimated numbers of more than 2,000 in the wild make them more abundant than the Southern White.
Population of Northern Whites halves in a decade and is now declining at an alarming rate.
The species’ decline continues and a Czech zoo imports five as a precaution.
The Northern White is declared critically endangered. 1984 Only 15 known Northern Whites are reported to be left in the wild. This number rises to 31 – but poaching continues to thwart all efforts at conservation.
The last official sighting of a Northern White Rhino in the wild. Just six remain in zoos.
The Czech zoo ships four of its rhinos to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya, where it is hoped that their natural environment will encourage them to breed.
With the last remaining rhinos in zoos dying, just three still exist in Kenya.
The last male Northern White Rhino dies. With only two infertile females remaining, the species is declared functionally extinct.
Number of females left of species, both too old to have any offspring
THE BBC is hoping to find the “extinct” northern white rhino with a bold expedition to war-ravaged South Sudan in Africa.
Locals have reported sightings and believe the “biologically extinct” species could exist in the country.
The civil conflict has made it too dangerous to film there for years and the northern white was declared extinct in 2018 when the last male died.
Only two females remain – both are too old to reproduce – and they live under armed protection in Kenya.
Doug Hope, executive producer for the BBC’s Natural History Unit, said: “It is a long shot, but there are rumours of them out there, and in a place that is so remote, so unexplored.
“From what our sources are telling us, it remains prime rhino habitat, so surely there is still a chance? And until this search is carried
DOUG HOPE OF THE BBC’S NATURAL HISTORY UNIT
out we can’t close the book on the northern white rhino.”
A one-hour special, The Last Unicorn, will track the journey of Paul Naden, of charity Saving the Survivors, cameraman Vianet Djenguet, vet Johan Marais and high security expert Aldo Kane.
BBC2 boss Patrick Holland said: “Natural World has always covered the most urgent stories in conservation and this project could not be more timely.”
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions displaced in South Sudan’s civil war, which began in 2013 and was declared ended this month.
Once classified as the most dangerous place on the planet, the country has no permanent roads, electricity, phone networks or internet.
Scientists are planning to flood the black market with fake rhino horns in an attempt to thwart poachers.
It is a long shot but there are rumours of them out there