The kingpin of a lucrative illegal abalone enterprise, Julian Brown, wept after he was jailed for an effective 18 years in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Friday for racketeering and contravening the Marine Living Resource Act.
The 32-year old Brown, a high school dropout, faced a string of charges between January 2015 and April 2016. He was acquitted on charges of defeating the ends of justice and money laundering linked to the purchase of a luxury Ferrari vehicle.
Shortly after Judge Mandela Makaula handed down the lengthy sentence, Brown wept as he bid farewell to family members.
He headed the enterprise alongside Eugene Victor and Brandon Turner who were each sentenced to 15 years.
The Judge said that Brown showed no remorse during the trial and claimed he had only hired out diving equipment and helped Ellerbeck and Clulow financially.
During the trial, Brown told the court that at the time of his arrest in June 2016, he made use of several vehicles which included a Golf 7, two Ford Rangers and a motorcycle, none of which were registered in his name.
At the time, he also rented out a R12,000 per month property in South End. He said that he made up to R500,000 per month in turnover from his construction company J&B Construction.
He also didn’t declare taxes.
Makaula said Brown had described the Section 204 witnesses as "useless gamblers and drug addicts," such comments the court found unfortunate especially after it was found they were his employees.
All the Section 204 witnesses were indemnified from prosecution except for Phillip Kriel.
- African News Agency (ANA),
