Image: Getaway Gallery
Rhino poacher Alsony Alberto Valoyi was sentenced to 23 years behind bars for rhino poaching and other offences on Friday 18 June.
The illegal immigrant from Mozambique pleaded guilty in Skukuza Regional Court to six rhino poaching related charges after his arrest in Kruger National Park in November 2016.
Over the past week, three poaching suspects have been arrested in the Lower Sabie section of Kruger National Park.
South African National Parks (SANParks) has welcomed the latest arrests, and the Valoyi conviction. Spokesperson Ike Phaahla says the arrests and convictions are victories against the “onslaught that is being waged against our natural heritage by criminal syndicates”.
The conviction comes on the heels of the killing of an alleged rhino poaching kingpin. Petros Sidney Mabuza, who has been in and out of court since 2018 was gunned down in his car in Hazyview on Thursday 17 June.
