POLOKWANE – Dawie Groenewald, his wife Sariette and nine others, including veterinary surgeons, professional hunters, a helicopter pilot and farm workers, will appear again in the the Pretoria High Court on July 21.
Groenewald’s case has been postponed numerous times already. He and the “Groenewald gang” have been charged with 1 872 charges ranging from rhino poaching, racketeering, money laundering, illegal rhino hunting, permit violations, illegal trade in rhino horn and violating the Biodiversity Act and the Act on the Prevention of Organised Crime.
Thirteen people were arrested in September 2010 and all the accused were later released on bail, with Groenewald’s bail set at a record-breaking R1 million, which was later decreased.
Two veterinarians, Karel Toet and Manie du Plessis, Toet’s wife Marisa, Toet’s employee, Koos Pronk, three professional hunters, Tielman Erasmus, Gys du Preez and Nardus Rossouw, a helicopter pilot, Dewald Gouws and a farm worker, Paul Matomela are the other accused in the case.
More than 20 buried rhino carcasses were found on Groenewald’s farm in the Musina area in 2013 with the horns removed.
Groenewald was issued 44 permits to hunt, convey, import and or export rhinos within the first six months after his arrest.
The indictment comprises 637 pages and the witness list is said to comprise 185 names.
