Game scout jailed for 15 years

Court Reporte

A GAME scout with a wildlife conservancy outside Chinhoyi will spend 15 years in jail for murdering a man he had found poaching.

Tafadzwa Muchuvi (19), escaped the mandatory death penalty after Justice Lawrence Kamocha found extenuating circumstances in his youthful age.

Muchuvi had pleaded not guilty to murdering Phillip Matipa, who was poaching game from Dandadales Shumba Safaris, but was convicted of murder with constructive intent.

Matipa and his colleague, David Muzerura, had gone to Dandadales Shumba Safaris to hunt when he met his fate.

The two, who were carrying a sable carcass, came across the game scout, who fired in their direction, hitting and killing Matipa on the spot.

Muzerura, who fled in panic, did not report the incident as he feared arrest for poaching.

Matipa’s body was only recovered six days later.

During trial, Muzerura told the court that he and his cousin, Matipa, teamed up to go hunting in the Dandadales Shumba Safaris Game Park.

While in the game park, he heard a gunshot and saw his cousin falling down. He did not see the person who had fired the shot.

Muzerera led villagers to the park where they subsequently discovered the decomposing body of Matipa. In passing sentence, Justice Kamocha took into account the fact that Muchuvi had received very little training on the use of a firearm. The judge also found that Muchuvi felt insecure that the poachers, who pounce on scouts whenever they crossed their path, would attack him.

"Poachers are dangerous and have killed some game scouts in the course of their hunting escapades," Justice Kamocha said adding, "but in this case the deceased exhibited no signs of being dangerous to warrant the conduct of the accused."

Muchuvi, in his defence, denied the charge arguing that he did not intend to kill the poacher.

He claimed that he had fired in the air to scare the poachers, but could not explain how the bullet ended up hitting Matipa. Mr Victor Zvobgo of Mhiribidi, Ngarava and Moyo represented Muchuvi, while Mr Lawrence Phiri appeared for the State.

15 years in a Zim jail...that is a death sentence.

I hope Rusty Laubaschagne is well and his family is pursuing his release.

Interesting verdict in the light of the 'would you shoot a poacher' thread seen here a few months ago....

$2 in the pocket of one of uncle bobs cronies will get him out in 5 minutes

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Interesting verdict in the light of the 'would you shoot a poacher' thread seen here a few months ago....

I thought the same thing. However, I think that if the poacher is armed, it is a totally different scenario and the game scout whould have been given a pat on the back.

Tim

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Interesting verdict in the light of the 'would you shoot a poacher' thread seen here a few months ago....

I am just back from the CAR where I met an ancient friend who is the chief of the private anti-poaching brigade. He is an ex foreigh legionnaire and an ex soldier of fortune.
Any armed poacher is killed and burried on the spot whereever their brigade is roaming in the country. Absolutely and definitely no mercy They obey the outfitters, not the gov.
Last year they killed 24 poachers and lost 4 guards. He showed me pics, very raw material!!

If anyone wants to start a fund for his family I'm in.

He should be given 15 Gold Medals let alone 15yrs in jail.

After 6 days they found the decomposing body?

Sounds like the area is a bit devoid of predators or scavengers (and any other critters?) and is, perhaps, added weight for the argument to 'sort out' the poachers properly?