A Mozambican national, Lucky Mabunda, aged 47, has been sentenced to ten years of direct imprisonment by the Skukuza Regional Court for his involvement in the killing of a rhino within Kruger National Park back in 2019.
This verdict comes while Mabunda was already serving a jail sentence for a similar rhino poaching offense.
Lucky Mabunda had pleaded guilty to the charges against him. The court heard that between February and September of 2019, the accused unlawfully entered the park via the Malelane Section and embarked on a hunting expedition.
During this time, field rangers conducting patrols encountered Mabunda, who was found to be in possession of a firearm, an axe, ammunition, and other equipment commonly used in hunting.
Monica Nyuswa, the NPA regional spokesperson, explained, “They continued their search and found two rhino carcasses. This led to the arrest of Mabunda.”
Nyuswa further detailed that Mabunda had previously appeared in court and had been found guilty of killing a second rhino. Consequently, in 2020, he was sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment by the same court for this crime.
“While serving his sentence in custody for killing the second rhino, the ballistic results for the rhino that was killed in February 2019 were brought forward,” Nyuswa stated.
“It confirmed that the bullets found on the carcass were fired from the rifle found in the accused’s possession.”
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State prosecutor Lot Mgiba underscored the gravity of the offense, advocating for an appropriate sentence in court.
Consequently, the accused was found guilty and received a ten-year jail term. The importance of such legal actions in combating poaching, which poses a severe threat to endangered species and the potential for species extinction, was highlighted by Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Nkebe Kanyane.