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Two rhino poachers were sentenced to an effective 19 years in jail in the Skukuza Regional Court.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli, says Michael Chauke and Americo Mathonsi, were sentenced on Thursday for killing a rhino in Kruger National Park in May 2019.
He said they were apprehended by park rangers who had responded to sounds of gunfire and then discovered the carcass of a rhino that had not yet been dehorned.
Mdhluli says the men were sentenced to 10 years each for hunting rhino illegally, three years for trespassing, seven years for the possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, and one for contravening the Immigration Act, with some of the sentences running concurrently.
"The court ordered that the count of trespassing run concurrently with the count of contravention of the Immigration Act. Whilst the count of possession of firearm will run concurrently with that of being in possession of ammunition," he said.
The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General, Semakaleng Manamela, welcomed the sentence.
