Zambian poacher case transferred

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
THE case of a suspected Zambian poacher, who was shot and arrested at the Hwange National Park early this year while trying to flee with 11 others, has been transferred to Hwange for trial. Lungunda Walubita, of Sitwala village in Kazungula, was arrested in March for poaching, possession of ivory withouta licence and entering the country without valid travel documents.

He appeared briefly before Bulawayo magistrate Gladmore Mushove yesterday who informed him that his matter had been transferred to the Hwange magistrate’s courts.

Walubita is pleading not guilty to the charges. In his last court appearance, he pleaded with the magistrate to bring the trial date forward, arguing that his children were suffering back home.

“My problem is that of course I was caught on the Zimbabwean side, but I was not hunting,” he told the court. “I have been incarcerated for a very long time, my children are alone and there is no one to fend for them. I have also been injured, all is not well,” he told the court.
Walubita was shot by game rangers on the buttocks at the crime scene as he tried to escape with his colleagues.

Mushove told the accused that his matter had been delayed by his hospitalisation due to the injuries he sustained. She said his case was only brought to Bulawayo because Walubita had been admitted to the United Bulawayo Hospitals.

Prosecuting, Jeremiah Mutsindikwa, told how sometime in March this year, Walubita crossed the Zambezi River into Zimbabwe at the Siamungu area in Victoria Falls.

“On March 7, Walubita who was in the company of 11 other Zambian nationals who are still at large, went to the Tibukai area in the Hwange National Park armed with rifles. The 12 men, acting in common purpose, shot and killed an elephant and removed the tusks,” he said.

National parks rangers, who were on patrol, heard gun shots and went to the area where they came across a fresh carcass of a male elephant with the tusks removed.

They saw the alleged poachers packing their bags and fired shots at them leading to the arrest of Walubita, who was shot while attempting to flee with the others.

The rangers managed to recover two elephant tusks, two axes, eight rounds of rifle ammunition and 12 bags containing clothes, blankets and food. The elephant tusks weighing 62kg were valued at $15,500.