Rhino horn kingpin Groenewald convicted after 15-year case

South African safari operator Dawie Groenewald has been convicted and sentenced in what prosecutors described as the world's largest rhino horn trafficking case, closing one of the country's longest-running wildlife crime prosecutions after 15 years.

Groenewald was sentenced at the Polokwane High Court after a plea and sentence agreement with the state. On the main racketeering count he was fined 2 million rand or four years' imprisonment, with a further 10 years suspended for five years under strict conditions. Across all the convictions, the cumulative penalties amounted to more than 10 million rand in fines and 36 years' imprisonment.

Prosecutors said Groenewald, through his hunting outfit Out of Africa, and with the help of professional hunters and others, sourced rhino horns from his own animals and those of other private owners to supply the black market in Southeast Asia. The case dated back to allegations from 2008.

Groenewald and his co-accused had faced more than 1,700 charges, including racketeering, money laundering, illegal hunting and the dehorning of rhinos.

Investigators welcomed the conviction as a milestone, while conservationists said the case highlighted the difficulty of prosecuting the kingpins behind organised wildlife crime, which continues to threaten South Africa's rhino population.