TWO Hwange men were yesterday slapped with a two-month jail term each for contravening sections of the Parks and Wildlife Act after they picked up a dead impala from Tshabilika and skinned it for food.
By Nokuthaba Dlamini
Preston Shoko (27) and Thabani Nyathi (24) from Gamba village were sentenced on their own plea of guilty when they appeared before Hwange magistrate, Portia Mhlanga.
They told the court in mitigation that they were not aware that it was an offence to skin the animal they had found dead.
The men were, however, spared custodial jail terms after Mhlanga ordered them to perform 140 hours of community service at Lukosi Hospital.
It was the State’s case presented by Onias Nyathi that on August 14 Shoko and Nyathi skinned an impala they found dead in a bushy area at Tshabilika in Hwange National Park and took it to the latter’s homestead.
The matter came to light when police officers on patrol discovered a carcass in the bush, leading to the duo’s arrest.
The value of the impala was pegged at $1 000.
