On Wednesday, July 21, 2021, A rhino kingpin and game hunter were arrested while illegally transporting rhino horns valued over R2.6-million. The duo was charged with illegally possessing and selling horns and was granted bail later that week.
The Crime
The two suspects are alleged rhino horn kingpin Johannes Groenewald, 53, and professional big game hunter Schalk Steyn,48. The duo was arrested in the process of illegally transporting 19 rhino horns in two separate vehicles. The arrest was made in Mpumalanga, which is a province in eastern South Africa. They were charged for possessing and selling the rhino horns.
The arrest was made part of a multidisciplinary operation controlled by the Hawks’ wildlife trafficking counter-intelligence unit.
The suspects’ initial court appearance a day after their arrest, July 22. Their crime is categorized as a Schedule 5 offense, which includes violent crimes such as treasons, murder, and corrupt involving monetary amounts “R500 000 for an individual and R100 000 if it is alleged that the offense was committed by a person, group of persons or syndicate acting in common purpose or conspiracy,” according to Mail & Guardian, Africa-based newspaper. A Schedule 5 offense carries with it a minimum of 15 years imprisonment.
The duo was released on bail under certain conditions that they do not communicate with any witnesses. Steyn had already given up his passport as part of a bail condition in a separate case.
Delay in Prosecution
The rhino-horn kingpin has a history of evading jail time and staying above the law. Previously, he was arrested, and nine other co-conspirators after an excavation investigation revealed that he had rhino carcasses. The investigation also revealed that the suspects removed the horns before they buried the animals.
Though the defendants were charged with illegal hunting, money laundering, racketeering, organized crime of rhino horns, they never had their day in court as the trial date was postponed.
According to the Daily Maverick, one reason for the delay in prosecution was that the court was awaiting “a Constitutional Court ruling that finally confirmed the lifting of South Africa’s moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn. The outcome was that the State dropped about 60 charges against the accused, and an amended charge sheet was subsequently served on the group.”
In 2018, the trial date was postponed to 2021, and the alleged suspects still have not had their day in court.
In 2014, the U.S. Justice Department attempted to extradite the defendants to face charges for “conspiracy to sell illegal rhino hunts in South Africa in bid to defraud US hunters,” however a Limpopo court in 2017 blocked their extradition.
The arrests received some applaud from the World Wide Fund for Wildlife of South Africa, with the senior manager saying that “We often talk of the need to shift law enforcement focus from the poachers on the ground to the wildlife trafficking syndicate members.”
The August 2021 IELR issue will have an in-depth discussion on this matter.
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