JUDGE ACTS AFTER READING YUMMIE BLOG

In South Africa, rhino horn smugglers are most commonly punished with fines and/or suspended sentences.

Xuan Hoang was not so lucky when he appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrates court yesterday, charged with the same offence.
The 29-year-old Vietnamese security guard flew into South Africa in March to collect seven rhino horns to smuggle back home.

Unfortunately for Xuan, Magistrate Prince Manyathi is obviously an avid Yummie reader, and after reading yesterday’s post on this site he was even more obviously fuming.

On top of that, the horns, weighing 16 kilograms, was matched through DNA to rhino carcasses killed just days earlier.

In sentencing Hoang to ten years imprisonment, the magistrate said (after reading yesterday’s post on Yummie) a strong message needs to be sent to Vietnam, where most of the horns are smuggled.'

Manyathi ignored the defence's plea for mercy and said a fine is simply not enough to stop the scourge.

The court said the value of the horns is just under R900 000 but customs officials estimate they could fetch up to R2-million on the black market.

Kader Khan