The three members of the notorious Ndlovu rhino poaching gang were on Friday found guilty of dozens of charges relating to the poaching of 13 rhinos in the Eastern Cape over some five years.
Jabulani Ndlovu, 40, Forget Ndlovu, 37, and Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, 38, will now have to remain in jail pending sentencing as their bail was immediately revoked on conviction.
The men are not related.
The smartly dressed trio sat poker faced as judge Jeremy Pickering pronounced each of them guilty of over 50 criminal charges including theft‚ the killing of endangered rhino without a permit‚ and unlawful possession of rhino horn, tranquiliser opioid agents and ammunition.
Although Forget escaped conviction on charges relating to just one of the poaching incidents, it will probably make little difference to the stiff prison sentence the men may now face.
Pickering spent the morning recounting the damning physical and circumstantial evidence which linked each of the accused to most of the 13 poaching incidents.
At the core of case was the evidence seized in a raid of the three men’s chalet at the Makana holiday resort in Makahanda in June 2016. They were caught red-handed with a 10.27kg freshly harvested rhino horn valued at R1m, a bloody saw, .22 dart gun and tranquiliser darts, M99 tranquiliser, cellphones and sim cards.
DNA evidence has linked both the blood on the saw and the horn to a magnificent white rhino named Campbell which had been poached the day before from nearby Bucklands Game reserve.
Pickering found all three men guilty of all counts associated with this incident.
From that one raid, Pickering described how the state successfully wove together a complex web of circumstantial evidence involving novel ballistic evidence from the dart gun, cellphone usage patterns, and car hire and movement patterns, to link the gang to 12 other rhino poaching cases across the province. They followed a remarkably similar modus operandi in each case.
When the moon waxed full, a car would be hired and the men’s cellphones could be placed in the vicinity of the poaching incident where they would ping off the nearest cell phone tower. Pickering said that if it had happened in one incident, one could perhaps presume that the accused had been unfortunate enough to use their cellphones at the wrong time and place.
“When that accused is allegedly in the wrong place at the wrong time on 10 different occasions the degree of suspicion created is, in my view, of necessity elevated into an entirely different realm, more especially when that wrong place on each occasion is many kilometres away from his home and in the vicinity and at the time that a rhino has been poached.”
He said by not giving evidence, the accused had left the overwhelming case against them unanswered. The gallery was packed to capacity with members of the green scorpions, game rangers, game farm owners, and members of private anti-poaching units.
They cheered as the three men were led down into the cells.
Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency CEO Vuyani Dayimani said he was thrilled with the 60-page judgment.
“It was a meticulous and harsh judgment. We are excited by this outcome.”
Green Scorpions director Div de Villiers also welcomed the judgment.
Pickering postponed the matter to Monday for argument on sentencing.
Pickering indicated he intended sentencing the men on April 3...