Impala poacher gets 8-month jail term
Friday, 01 June 2012 00:00
Court Reporter
A 21-YEAR-OLD Beatrice poacher was sentenced to eight months in prison for killing an impala valued at US$1 500. Sam Kasorota of Elladale Farm was arrested after he sneaked into the game park and found in possession of 23 snares, he used to trap the animals.
He admitted to the charges of contravening the Wildlife Protection Act when he appeared before Chitungwiza magistrate Ms Rumbidzai Mugwagwa.
In sentencing Kasorota, Ms Mugwagwa noted that he had become a habitual criminal specialising on poaching game animals.
Ms Mugwagwa also brought into effect one month sentence that was set aside when he was previously convicted of a similar offence. The court heard that when Kasorota was fined US$100, he failed to pay the fine, leading him to committing a similar offence to raise money to pay.
Prosecutor Mr Luke Mutupe proved that on May 14 this year at around 6am, Kasorota and Douglas Nyakudirwa, who is on the run, went to Caroline Estate Game Park armed with 23 wire snares.
Once inside, they then set the snares in the game park, which had different species of animals. The duo left the game park undetected. Two days later, at around 8am, they came back to check whether their snares had trapped any animal and found one of the snares had caught an impala.