Cecil the lion: case against hunt leader should be thrown out, court told
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Version 0 of 1. The case against a professional hunter who helped an American dentist kill a popular lion in Zimbabwe should be thrown out of court, his lawyers have argued. Theo Bronkhorst, 52, is charged with “failing to prevent an illegal hunt” when Walter Palmer paid $55,000 (£35,000) to shoot the lion, known as Cecil, with a bow and arrow in early July. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Bronkhorst denies any wrongdoing, insisting that he had obtained all the permits required to kill an ageing lion that was outside national park boundaries. His lawyer, Perpetua Dube, told a court in the north-western town of Hwange: “The charge is not clear and the circumstances do not constitute a chargeable offence.” Prosecutor Namatirai Ngwasha said: “We need time to research and make an informed response to the defence’s application,” AFP reported. Regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga accepted the defence’s court application and remanded the case until 15 October, when she said she would decide whether Bronkhorst’s trial should go ahead. The killing of 13-year-old Cecil provoked a global backlash after it emerged that the big cat was a popular attraction among visitors to the Hwange national park and was wearing a tracking collar as part of a research project at Oxford University in the UK. Palmer, an experienced trophy hunter, was castigated on social media over the hunt and went into hiding after protests outside his dental practice in Minnesota. He has apologised for killing Cecil, renowned for his distinctive black mane, and appeared to blame Bronkhorst for misleading him. Palmer returned to work this month, insisting: “If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study, obviously I wouldn’t have taken it. Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.” He also disputed accounts that the wounded lion wandered for 40 hours and was finished off with a gun, claiming that it was tracked down the next day and killed with an arrow. The US has yet to respond to Zimbabwe’s request for Palmer to be extradited to face charges. Bronkhorst, who is out on $1,000 (£659) bail, arrived at the court in Hwange on Monday wearing khaki trousers, a striped khaki shirt and a grey cap. The owner of the land on which Cecil was killed was listed among five state witnesses in the trial after initially being charged with allowing an illegal hunt. Bronkhorst was arrested this month on separate charges of planning to smuggle 29 sable antelopes into South Africa. He was also bailed in that case, which will be heard separately. |