A rhino poacher who was arrested twice for poaching at the Kruger National Park has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. 40-year-old Mike Nyathi was sentenced in the Skukuza Region Court on Friday, the police confirmed.
Mike Nyathi is a Mozambican national with South African citizenship and has been on the wrong side of the law as poaching is illegal. Nyathi and his accomplice Janeiro Chuguane were first attested when they killed a white rhino on 17 September 2017 at the park’s Kingfisherspruit section.
Rangers rushed to the scene after hearing gunshots and found the two suspects next to the carcass and apprehended them. The suspects were charged with the possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, trespassing, conspiracy to commit crime, possession of dangerous weapons and hunting of protected animals at the Kruger National Park.
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The two suspects received bale after appearing in court and Chuguane fled to Mozambique immediately after that and is still at large. Nyathi stayed and was arrested for rhino poaching the second time in May 2019, this time in the KNP’s Satara section. Nyathi was tracked down by rangers and a tracker dog under a fallen tree .
Daphney Manamela, Mpumalanga’s police commissioner, has applauded all those who were involved in the arrest of the suspect which led to him being convicted. “We commend the team of field rangers, the investigating team, the prosecution team as well as the judiciary for the job well done. We hope that others who might think of poaching will be deterred by this sentence,” Manamela said.
Source: Times Live, The Citizen, The South African, image from The Citizen
