The Standards, Utilities, and Wildlife Court in Kampala has sentenced an ivory dealer Pascal Ochiba to life imprisonment for unlawful possession of protected species.
Ochiba was sentenced on Friday by Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu. He was found in illegal possession of elephant ivory weighing 9.55 kilograms without a wildlife user right.
Court heard that Ochiba who was arrested on January 18th, 2022 from his residence in Namuwongo Zone in Kampala had become a habitual offender having been convicted of similar crimes in 2017 by the same Court.
Kamasanyu said that leaving Ochiba in circulation outside prison will increase the risk of killing endangered species and as such he deserved a sentence that will contribute to making the world a safer place for wildlife and humans.
According to Kamasanyu, such offenses have become rampant in the country yet Uganda is known as a home to the world’s most known wildlife ranging from iconic mammals such as elephants to small ones like pangolins that need to be protected.
This is not the first time that Ochiba is being convicted. On July 4th, 2017, Ochiba was arrested from Namuwongo after being found with four pieces of Ivory, the dry skin of an okapi without a valid use right.
He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for both offenses which ran concurrently, only to repeat the same offenses that had taken him to prison.
The Executive Director of Uganda Wildlife Authority -UWA Sam Mwandha has described the sentence as a landmark achievement in the fight against illegal wildlife trade.
“We are happy to see the maximum sentence being handed to a wildlife offender. This is a landmark achievement in our war on illegal wildlife trade in Uganda. We must do our best in times to protect our wildlife otherwise history will Judge as harshly”, said Mwandha in a statement issued by UWA.
On September 15, Kamasanyu ordered the deportation of a Yemen National Al-Maamari Maged Mutahar Ali after finding him guilty on charges of attempting to export wildlife from Uganda to Egypt without a permit.
Kamasanyu ordered his deportation and payment of a fine of 60 million shillings for illegal possession of a wildlife specimen and another 60 million shillings for attempted export of a wildlife specimen and sentenced to caution on charges of conspiring to commit a felony.
The Court heard that the Yemen national together with his driver Abubaker Mustafa chopped a rhino horn into 26 pieces weighing 15 kilograms and packaged it in suitcases in order to conceal their crimes.
Ali’s co-accused Mustafa was sentenced to pay a fine of a total of 40 million shillings on both charges and in default, all the convicts were directed to spend 15 years in jail as first-time offenders.
Comments are closed.