A Blesbuck ended up costing two Eastern Cape businessmen about R32 000 after they were convicted of poaching it on a local farm.
A Blesbuck ended up costing two Eastern Cape businessmen about R32 000 after they were convicted of poaching it on a local farm.
Grahamstown Magistrate Sarel Strauss sentenced Eugene Brown, 28, and Wickus Putter, 36 to a fine of R1 000 or six months imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to illegally hunting the Blesbuck with their bow-and-arrows on a local game farm. They also forfeited their state-of-the-art compound bow and arrows, jointly worth about R30 000, to the State.
The men did not have a permit to hunt the Blesbuck, nor did they have a licence permitting them to hunt with a bow-and-arrow. They also pleaded guilty to poaching the buck on Glen Melville Farm near Grahamstown without owner Nolan Sparg’s knowledge or permission.
Grahamstown stock theft detective Inspector Riaan Landman this week said that Sparg’s neighbour and local Connocks butchery owner John Coetzee spotted the two men decked out in full camouflage outfits hunting on Sparg’s farm. Coetzee had immediately phoned the police and had assisted in the arrest of the two men who had already loaded the carcass of the buck onto the back of their bakkie.
State prosecutor Advocate Buks Coetzee confirmed the two hi-tech bow-and-arrow sets, jointly worth in the region R30 000, were forfeited to the State. The still-fresh carcass was donated by agreement to a local organisation that houses and assists people with drug and alcohol addiction.
Adv Coetzee yesterday confirmed that while it was necessary to have a licence to hunt with a bow-and-arrow, the deadly weapon was not regarded as a firearm and did not require a firearm licence. “It is absolutely lethal and about as effective as a rifle, although it does not have the same long range. But it is not regulated.”
Landman said the two men had confirmed that they had shot the buck dead from about 110 metres away. He said the men had realised just how serious their actions were after spending a night in a Fort Brown police station prison cell before having to appear in court the next day.
