Reprieve for Chinese ivory traffickers who were handed 30 years

Two Chinese nationals who were jailed in 2016 for illegally possessing 706 pieces of elephant tusks have lost their second appeal. The Court of appeal has dismissed the appeal lodged by Huang Qin and Xu Fujie, who were challenging the sentence that required they to pay Sh54 billion each or spend 30 years in jail.

However, the duo got a reprieve on Tuesday after the court reduced their sentence to 20 years, and ordered that they each pay a fine of not less than ten times of the value of the trophy they were seized with.

They are now required to pay Sh53 billion instead of Sh107 billion after they were found in possession of tusks weighing 1,889 kilograms.

“We are settled in our mind that the appellants being first offenders deserved a statutory minimum sentence of imprisonment for 20 years and not the maximum sentence of 30 years,” Court of Appeal judges Rehema Mkuye, Gerald Ndika and Jacobs Mwambegele said.

The duo were also challenging their conviction for attempting to bribe law enforces who searched their house Sh30.2 million, saying the offence had not been proven.

The court agreed with the two that the count was not proven to required standard. Although the Court of Appeal agreed with the prosecution that there was evidence the appellants attempted to bribe the search team, it expressed surprise that none of the prosecution witnesses tendered the money in court.

“No reason was given by the prosecution for such failure and it appears that even their whereabouts is unknown. This count was not proved against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt,” said the judges.

Reports show that the two visited Tanzania in 2010 and stayed at the house of a compatriot identified as Lee on Kifaru Street in Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam, and started engaging in the illegal activities for over two years before they were arrested.

Anti-poaching officials received intelligence reports on November 1, 2013 that a consignment of elephant tusks had been stored in the Mikocheni house.

The officer in assistance of the police arranged surveillance aid trap to arrest them as more information came in that the targets were on the verge of picking-up the trophies and run away.

They were trailed and apprehended the following day with 706 pieces of elephant tusks which were stuffed in polythene bags. A witness had told the court that desperately they attempted to bribe officers who conducted the search so as to let them free.

Sentencing the accused, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court said the accused were a real threat to the elephant generation in Tanzania considering evidence that the nation suffered for the heartless killing of 226 indigenous wildlife.

In defense, the appellants denied involvement in the crime. They claimed that they first came to Tanzania in 2013 to look for jobs and stayed at the house of their colleague, Lee, at Kifaru Stree, Mikocheni area in Dar es Salaam where they used to pack garlic and Chinese spices.

They denied testimony that the elephant tusks were retrieved from their house, saying they just saw them being produced in court. Their first appeal was dismissed by the High Court.

In their second and final appeal, the Chinese nationals complained that the punishment to pay Sh54.3 billion each or imprisonment of 30 years was excessive.

Their lawyer argued that the trial court ought not to award the maximum sentence of 30 years considering the accused were first offenders.

The court used section 86 (1) (2) (b) of the Wildlife Conservation Act to reduce the sentence from 30 to 20 years and make an order that they should pay the fine of not less than 10 times the value of the seized trophy.

According to the section, a person is convicted with illegal possession of elephant tusks whose value exceeds Sh100,000 shall be liable to a fine of not less than 10 times the value of the trophy or imprisonment of not less than 20 years or both.