Poachers sentenced and wounded rhino gives birth

JUST months after four rhinos were killed and a pregnant rhino badly wounded at the Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve in Ceres Karoo, the National Prosecuting Authority has confirmed that two brothers were sentenced for their involvement in conspiracy to hunt rhinos.

Nicolaas and Gideon van Deventer pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to hunt rhinos, illegal hunting, killing and de-horning a rhino, possession of rhino horns, selling rhino horns, trespassing and possession of a loaded firearm.

They were sentenced at the Giyani Magistrate’s Court this week.

Nicholaas, 56, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and Gideon, 53, to 10 years.

NPA regional spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the duo had committed the offences during December 2016 and January 2017.

“The sentences were ordered to run concurrently; Deon was sentenced to serve an effective 10 years imprisonment and Nicholaas will serve 15 years direct imprisonment,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.

“On the day of their arrest they were found tossing a rhino horn from the window of their speeding bakkie while being pursued by police along the Vivo and Makhado road in Limpopo. The accused were in custody for five years waiting for their trial to be finalised.”

Malabi-Dzhangi said that during the aggravation of sentencing, advocate

Norman Makuvele called Mario Scholtz of SANParks, to the witness stand.

He testified that syndicates were hunting and smuggling rhino horns, that the accused are hunters and dealers, and that the statistics about depleting rhino populations due to poaching overtook the reproduction and economic impact.

Makuvele told the court the duo first made the headlines in KwaZulu-Natal 10 years ago when caught poaching rhinos in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, and again for possession of rhino horns in the Bela-Bela area in Limpopo. Several adult rhinos and calves were shot indiscriminately and left to die.

“He (Scholtz) prayed to the court to sentence the accused to a long period of imprisonment as they have countless previous convictions, many relating to environmental issues and rhino poaching,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.

The sentencing follows the incident at Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve in December 2021 where four rhinos were left for dead and a pregnant rhino injured.

Searl Derman, the owner of Aquila Private Game Reserve and Spa (part of the Aquila Collection) in the Western Cape, said they were delighted at arrests being made in the case and that a surviving rhino had given birth.

“I am elated to announce that, not only have arrests been made within days of the incident back in December, but the Inverdoorn poaching surviving rhino gave birth to a healthy baby rhino boy on April 30,” he said.

He told what took place on the day of the incident: “The Inverdoorn Anti-Poaching team came across the horrific scene of rhino poaching on their 10 000-hectare Western Cape private game reserve.

“The four dead rhinos had their horns brutally removed while an injured female rhino was missing and had to be tracked. A specialist team was immediately assembled to firstly find her, and then look after her safety while guiding her through recovery.

“Under the guidance and supervision of specialist and renowned vet Douw Grobler, the injured female was constantly monitored, and finally stabilised enough to perform a series of reconstructive procedures to reassemble parts of her face that had been badly injured by a close-range high calibre rifle shot.”

Derman said the birth was a miracle and that the baby rhino was healthy.

SANParks said as the incident took place in the private reserve, they could not comment.

AQUILA THE rhino that survived an attack in December, with its calf. |