Peter Nel (37) was sentenced on 22 October 2021, by the Khayelitsha Regional Court after he entered into a plea agreement with the State. The accused was charged for landing, selling, receiving or possession of fish taken in contravention of the Marine Living resources Act, Act 18 of 1998 and transportation or possession of abalone not in a whole state.
The accused was sentenced as follows:
Count 1: Sentenced to 5 years imprisonment suspended for five years, on condition that the accused is not convicted of a contravention of Section 44(2) of the Marine Living Resources Act during the period of suspension.
Count 2: The accused is sentenced to two (2) years correctional supervision in terms of the Criminal procedure Act.
This follows his arrest on 23 March 2019, after he handed himself over at Touwsrivier SAPS where he subsequently appeared in court at Touwsrivier same day and was released on R20 000 bail.
It is alleged that on the 18 February 2019 Worcester TRT reacted on information about a truck that was on the N1 enroute to Johannesburg.
The TRT members picked up the truck at Touws Rivier and proceeded to pull it off the road. The truck was searched and 2905.04 kg units of abalone were seized.
This then culminated in the investigation being handed over to the DPCI for further probing up until sentencing.
