News / National
Man found in possession of ivory sentenced
08 May 2018 at 18:43hrs | Views
A 43-year-old man from Mbire was slapped with an effective nine year and one month sentence for possessing ivory without a licence.
Francis Mapfumo of Mapfumo village under Chief Chitsungo in Mbire district was convicted on two separate counts after a full trial.
The first count being possession of ivory without a licence and the second count possession of live ammunition without a licence.
The public prosecutor Mr Albert Mazhindu told the court that on 2 February 2018 the accussed was found with a pair of elephant tusk weighing 31 kg valued at $7050 and one live round of ammunition for a 303 rifle by detectives acting on a tip-off from villagers.
In passing sentence the magistrate noted that poaching was rife in Mbire distirct and there was need to pass a deterrent sentence.
However it is encouraging to note that despite this incident nation wide statics have revealled that poaching cases have gone down. Zimbabwe was recently lauded by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for its efforts in curbing poaching.
Francis Mapfumo of Mapfumo village under Chief Chitsungo in Mbire district was convicted on two separate counts after a full trial.
The first count being possession of ivory without a licence and the second count possession of live ammunition without a licence.
In passing sentence the magistrate noted that poaching was rife in Mbire distirct and there was need to pass a deterrent sentence.
However it is encouraging to note that despite this incident nation wide statics have revealled that poaching cases have gone down. Zimbabwe was recently lauded by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for its efforts in curbing poaching.
Source - Byo24News
