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A habitual burglar who broke into the taxidermy African Artistry in Bloemfontein to steal rhino horns was sentenced to an effective seven years’ imprisonment by the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 12 November.
Wilson Kwintshana was found guilty by Magistrate Johannes Moeng, who sentenced him for the crime committed on 3 April 2017.
Investigation had linked him to this well-orchestrated crime, which saw two rhino horns sold and shipped to Switzerland.
He received a seven-year sentence for theft and housebreaking with the intent to steal, and he was sentenced to five years for the possession, transportation and sale of the two rhino horns.
Moeng ordered that the sentences should run concurrently.
Kwintshana was also ruled unfit to possess a firearm.
According to Phaladi Shuping, spokesperson for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kwintshana had an existing criminal record.
He said Kwintshana’s accomplice, Solomon Diphoko, had been acquitted, having also confessed to his employer his involvement in the commission of the crime.
According to initial findings, the rhino horns were shipped to Switzerland after they were reportedly sold for R200 000 on the black market in Johannesburg.
“However, the police could not trace the buyer,” he said.
Shuping said the finalisation of the case was delayed due to the death of the investigator, WO Lawrence Botha, who passed away before the trial could start. Two witnesses also disappeared.
According to Shuping, witnesses could not be traced to testify.
Kwintshana was positively linked to the break-in through fingerprints lifted by the police a day after the crime.
Shuping said Kwintshana’s defence was bare denial, and he claimed that his fingerprints had been planted. The state prosecutor, Mareli Erasmus, dismissed this claim.
“There is no way that the police could have planted the accused’s prints. At the time of his arrest, the fingerprint expert had already lifted his prints from the toilet where he had gained entry into the main building, and from the ceiling where the horns were kept.”
