Zim Elephant Tusk Smuggler Fined P8,500

Othusitse Khuwa | Monday April 3, 2017 15:42

Ronald Mujaji was fined P500 for entering Botswana through an ungazetted point of entry, P5,000 for being found in unlawful possession of fragments of an elephant tusk, P1,500 for a fake licence disk and P1,500 for faking a professional driving goods’ permit.

Mujaji will spend three months, two years, and one year and another year in jail respectively for the offences, should he fail to pay the fines.

He should pay the fines not later than April 13, otherwise his prison terms, which Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko ordered to run concurrently, will be activated.

In addition, Kapeko ordered that the car from which the elephant tusks were recovered, which Mujaji was driving,. shall be forfeited to the state. The elephant tusks too, were forfeited to the state,” Kapeko added.

Mujaji was found in possession of 19 white elephant tusk pieces on January 24 at Nzano Shopping Mall.

He was busted after police received a tip-off that he might be in possession of elephant tusks. He pleaded guilty to all the offences that he was charged with.

Previously during mitigation, Mujaji who is a first offender asked the Court to temper justice with mercy and not pass a custodial sentence since he pleaded guilty to the offences and did not waste the Court’s time.

“I am asking the Court to consider the weight of the elephant tusk pieces and how I came to possess them.

I did not benefit from this offence, and I am therefore pleading with this Court to at least fine me because life in prison is unbearable,” he pleaded.