Poachers jailed for hunting elephant

The Cabo Delgado provincial court in northern Mozambique has sentenced two poachers to six years' imprisonment for hunting in the Quirimbas National Park, according a report on the allAfrica site. The two men are peasants living inside this conservation area. In May 2019, they were detained in possession of 60kg of elephant meat, valued at about $1 740. The tusks of the dead elephant, however, were not located. In delivering his sentence, the judge, Geraldo Patricio, said under Mozambican legislation on wildlife crime, ‘the court ought to sentence you to between 12 and 16 years, but since it has not been proved that it was you who killed the elephant, and since it seems that you do not know the law and the procedures about conservation areas, which we regard as mitigating factors, you are hereby sentenced to six years' imprisonment’.

Full report on the allAfrica site