Malawi court convicts 7 Chinese, 2 Malawians on wildlife crimes: Sentencing July 3
The Lilongwe Magistrate Court on Friday convicted seven Chinese nationals and two Malawians for committing wildlife crimes in the country.
The convicted Chinese nationals included Lin Yun Hua who is dubbed Malawi’s most wanted suspected wildlife trafficker and notorious kingpin.
Lin Yun Hua already pleaded guilty to the charge of illegal possessions of specimen of listed and protected species, 103 pieces of Rhino horn.
After delivering the judgement, Senior Resident Magistrate Florence Msekandiwana further notified the court that sentencing will be delivered on July 3 2020 after both the state and defense file documents related to aggravating and mitigating factors.
In his remarks, State Councel Andy Kaonga said it was satisfying hearing that all the accused persons have been found guilty.
“Today is a good day. Its a day that we have been waiting for and we now have to move to the next step. We are lucky that the judiciary has sentencing guidelines.
“We just have to go back and look at the guidelines and guide the court on what sentences should be given to the convicted individuals,” Kaonga explained.
Kaonga attributed the victory to the enough evidence presented by the state and the inconsistencies in the defense evidence.
“The magistrate even indicated that some of the evidence presented by the accused were fit to be in a novel. I think they were too desperate. They tried to put up some kind of a story. The inconsistencies were too great. Not only that, but also, as the state, we provided our evidence too,” he said.
The Chinese nationals also include Jingfu Zeng, Guozhong Zang, Gouhua Zhang, Yanwu Zhou, Ya Shen Zhou and Qinhua Zhang while the Malawians are Cosmas Sakugwa and Steve Daza.
A total of 10 Chinese and four Malawian nationals were arrested in 2019 in relation to the syndicate in question and are at various stages of trial.
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Burn them alive! Our wildlife is just starting to thrive. We don’t need these predators!! Set an example to the world malawi!! Africa is our Africa. We protect our species
PLEASE….Don’t give them soft punishments…..what if it were the Malawians killing Pandas in Sichuan Province, China or found with Panda skins in China???
The fact that they were found with horns it means they facilitated the killing of our elephants and rhinos….this is serious…. In China it carries a minimum of 10years in prison or sometimes even life imprisonment (Ref Google)
The Director of wildlife and parks Mr Kuntchedwa is one of those civil servants that have passion for their job. He is always on the spot. Congratulations team for put up the be best defense. Machina awa akakhaleko ku maula, I agree with all of you that there should be no mercy for such law breakers
They deserve stiff punishment to set as an example to others. However, let not the delaying process be an act of manipulating the judgment, corruption is like an inheritance in Africa.
Away with the Chinese Mafia away with the Malawian Mafia.
They need to be incarcerated and no mercy or fear of losing diplomatic freebies from China.
If these stupid Malawian Mafia were convicted in China after carrying out crimes against their wildlife, like killing and skinning a Panda 🐼, they should’ve been killed by a firing squad within two days of a court ruling. They don’t have MERCY the Chinese are.
BRAVO MALAWI 🇲🇼🐓🐓🐓🔥🔥🔥
These Chinese should be punished for Life Time they are Just Killing the Animals And Eating them and Spreading Virus in the Whole World
BravoI! This is excellent news. Chinese syndicates have for long time used Malawi as a hub for recruiting poachers and conduit for trafficking illegal wildlife products. The department of wildlife, Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, prosecutors and the Senior Magistrates have done an excellent job in nailing these people who are robbing Malawi’s natural wealth and potential to tap into the ecotourism industry which depends on wildlife and other natural and cultural attributes
I hope the govt. deport these wildlife criminals
This type of reporting makes me sick. Why leave the reader in suspense. Tell us more about what these Chinese and Malawians have been doing. So, the Chinese had 103 samples of some horn, is that it? Where did those horns come from? What are they worth? What was the role of those two Malawians? You say this was a syndicate…how does it work? You say this guy was a most wanted kingpin…tell us more about that. What made him the most wanted man? Did he have any skirmishes with the law at some point? How were these people able… Read more »