It’s one of the disturbing situations for prosecutors. A veterinary expert or laboratory test to ascertain the origin of the impounded meat is needed is such cases, Space for Giants director says.
 |
| It is important to identify the origin of the meat at the crime scene such that suspects do not deny having killed a protected animal species. |
It is not uncommon for prosecutors to let free some
individuals arrested with unknown meats because of a lack of evidence to confirm whether the meat belongs to a protected animal species or not.
This mainly happens in border communities where
individuals can be found with meat from across the borders and prosecutors have
no jurisdiction in the neighbouring country to establish the origin of the meat.
For instance, in 2021/2022, almost 22 percent of
the wildlife crimes Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA)
handled were not filed to the courts because of limited evidence.
Further statistics obtained from Rwanda prosecution
show that the number of written-off wildlife cases has reduced from nearly 40
percent in 2018/2019.
Faith Reporters has established an example of such
a case that happened on the night of 15th September 2021 at Nyabubare Village,
Nasho Cell, Mpanga Sector, Kirehe District, in Eastern Province, a community at
Rwanda-Tanzania border.
Authorities intercepted a group of seven men who
had emerged from River Akagera between Rwanda and Tanzania with unspecified
kilogrammes of meat each.
Three other men were waiting for the incoming group
of seven on the banks of the river in Rwandan to help carry the loads.
Only two were arrested while the rest disappeared
into the darkness.
Rwanda’s laws hold suspects for a maximum of five workdays of investigation before handing over the case file to the prosecutors
who also take a maximum of five days to file the case to the courts.
The suspects remained in police custody for five
workdays from Wednesday 15th September 2021 to Wednesday 22nd September 2021.
On 23rd September 2021, the prosecution looked at
their file and released the duo on grounds of insufficient evidence.
The file from Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) had
no laboratory or expert test to confirm whether the meat found with the suspects belonged to protected animal species or not.
Katto Wambua, the director of Wildlife Justice and
Rule of Law at Space for Giants, a conservation organisation for the protection
of wildlife landscapes in Africa told Faith Reporters that the lack of evidence
is one of the leading challenges in prosecuting wildlife crimes in Africa.
He said that it’s not uncommon to have cases where
it is clear that a wildlife crime was committed but with no evidence pinning
the suspect in the crime.
“It’s one of the disturbing situations for
prosecutors. We have developed the Rapid Reference Guide for ten countries so
far, and one of the elements it emphasizes is a veterinary report or laboratory test to ascertain
the origin of the impounded meat,” he said.
The Central African country in the East African
Community (EAC) bloc has also adopted the Rapid Reference Guide on Wildlife
and environmental Crimes and related Administrative Faults, a toolkit that
several African countries had adopted with the aid of Space for Giants.
“We have realised an increase in cross-border
wildlife crimes in the last five years. The Rapid Reference Guide will help us
curb wildlife crimes before they are too many to handle,” Jean Pierre
Habarurema, the Focal point for the Prosecution of Wildlife and environmental
crimes at Rwanda Prosecution told Faith Reporters in December 2022.
The toolkit which was launched in December 2022 is being
translated in Kinyarwanda for the law enforcement agencies to
have training about the book by February 2023, according to Habarurema.
On the international ranking of lucrative crimes,
wildlife crimes come fourth after gun, human and drug trafficking.
Since 2015, ten countries have adopted the Rapid
Reference Guide including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana,
Namibia, Mozambique and Rwanda while South Sudan is in the pipeline.
Some of the countries have revised the guide three
times so far, depending on arising challenges in handling wildlife crimes in their jurisdictions.
According to data from Rwanda’s prosecution, the wildlife crimes conviction rate since 2018 ranges from 70-95 per cent with the highest in 2019/2020 and the lowest in 2018/2019.
--------------
Kelly Rwamapera is a law reporter in East Africa and specialising in environmental crimes.
FaithReporters@gmail.com
Most animals are killed by guns, my question is where do those poachers access guns from? And I wonder why a country that can track a murderer using his or her single hair left behind to get them fails to technologically Identify the type of animal the meat belongs!! Then my concomitant comes in, let the governments first strengthen security then it will be hard someone to kill some animals species like elephants with knives if guns become scarce.
ReplyDelete