The Provincial Police Management in Limpopo welcomes the six years direct imprisonment sentence meted out to the accused, Stefan Hepburn (40) for killing Jan Railwa (25), after he mistook him for a warthog.
The accused, from Pretoria, was on 11 December 2018, convicted by the Modimolle Regional Court on a charge of culpable homicide and was sentenced yesterday, 29 January 2019 by the same court.
The incident happened on Saturday, 11 February 2017 at about 20:00 at Tuinplaas farm in Modimolle Cluster. On that fateful night, the deceased from Loding Extension 02 in Mpumalanga and a farm worker at the time, was shot dead by the hunter from Pretoria after he mistook him for a warthog.
Welcoming the sentence, the Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba warned all authorized hunters to be extra careful and first make proper identification before shooting any animal they are hunting.
“This sentence should serve as a wakeup call to all persons making use of firearms that any form of negligence will not be tolerated,” he said. “We also commend a team of investigators that was led by Captain Richard Boshomane, for leaving no stone unturned in making sure that a conviction verdict is secured,” concluded General Ledwaba.
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