POLOKWANE – The accused were initially charged with 1 872 charges in their first court appearance in Polokwane.
The case was later moved to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria where Groenewald and his co-accused, a helicopter pilot, two veterinarians and professional hunters, appeared.
The accused were allegedly linked to hundreds of illegal rhino poaching operations over a period of four years.
Charges against Groenewald’s wife, Sariëtte, were in the meantime withdrawn following a Constitutional Court ruling confirming the lifting of South Africa’s moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn last year, resulting also in the state dropping about 60 charges against the eight accused.
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All the accused except one, are out on bail.
The bail of one accused, Nardus Rossouw was revoked when he was arrested on similar charges last year.
Another accused, Paul Mathoromela, passed away in the meantime.
The accused face in the region of 1 600 charges, ranging from racketeering, money laundering, illegal hunting of rhino, to dealing in rhino horn.
Nearly 30 buried rhino carcasses without horns were found on Groenewald’s farm near Musina in 2013.
State Prosecutor Joanie Spies informed the court that there were a lot of developments in the case since the group appeared in court in June last year and that an amended charge sheet was served on the group in December last year.
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Manie du Plessis, one of the accused is engaging with the state with regard to a possible plea bargain.
The state was also awaiting a response to admissions, formulated by the state, and forwarded to the defense teams should they wish to make admissions.
The case was postponed for these matters to be sorted out even though the state was ready to call its witnesses.
A meeting was planned with the Deputy Judge President, Aubrey Ledwaba, to allocate a judge to streamline all outstanding issues so that the trial, expected to last between six months and a year, could commence. The court agreed that the outstanding matters had to be adjudicated by a judge first.
The trial was postponed to 29 March.
