Three men accused of poaching 13 Eastern Cape rhinos in one of the biggest poaching trials to date will know their fate by the end of the week.
Following a mammoth trial and lengthy closing argument on Monday, judge Jeremy Pickering undertook to give judgment on Friday in the case of Jabulani Ndlovu, 40, Forget Ndlovu, 37, and Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, 38. The men are not related.
At the core of the state’s case is the evidence seized in a raid of the three men’s chalet at the Makana holiday resort in Makhanda in June 2016. They were caught red-handed in the raid with a 10.27kg freshly harvested rhino horn valued at R1m, a bloody saw, .22 dart gun and tranquilliser darts, M99 tranquilliser, cellphones and SIM cards. DNA evidence has linked both the blood on the saw and the horn of a magnificent white rhino named Campbell which had been poached the day before from nearby Bucklands game reserve.
From that one raid, the state has used what it seized to try and weave together an intricate web of circumstantial evidence involving complex ballistic evidence from the dart gun, cellphone usage patterns, and car hire and movement patterns, to link the three men to 12 other poaching cases with almost identical modus operandi.
They are charged in relation to the Bucklands incident as well as the killing of two rhinos at a game farm in Jansenville, four rhinos in the Graaff-Reinet area, five from the Cradock area, and one from the Great Fish River.
On Monday, the Ndlovus’ counsel, advocate Terry Price, SC, took a second stab at trying to persuade judge Pickering that he should not admit into evidence the items seized during the police raid at the chalet. If that is excluded, all other evidence must also fall away.
Following a trial-within-a-trial last year, Pickering ruled that the evidence was admissible even though police acted unlawfully in searching the chalet without a warrant. He said admitting the evidence would not render their trial unfair nor would it be detrimental to the administration of justice.
“It is real evidence, the existence of which would have been revealed independently of the accuseds’ right to privacy had the police entered the chalet lawfully in terms of a search warrant.”
But, Price on Monday said this would reward police for doing their job badly.
Senior state advocate Buks Coetzee on Monday asked that Pickering convict the men on all counts.
He said the state had established beyond reasonable doubt from the initial evidence seized, exactly what the modus operandi of the men was...