Niël Terblanché
Convicted poacher Derrick Brockerhoff appeared in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after several warrants of arrest were updated and executed last week.
The notorious poacher was arrested in the mountains behind the Eros Neighbourhood of Windhoek almost a month ago when he was caught red-handed with the carcasses of a gemsbok and a kudu.
At the court appearance in Swakopmund, it was revealed that several pending cases are still registered against the accused person and that the arrest warrants stem from three cases of poaching near Swakopmund and in the Nabib Naukluft Park between Walvis Bay and Solitaire in 2021.
At the time three counts of illegal hunting were registered after he hunted two zebras and a gemsbok illegally.
The arrest warrants were issued when he did not make follow-up appearances at the court in 2021.
It is not clear how Brockeroff was set free and why he did not stand trial because no record of his court appearances on the three cases of illegal hunting in Swakopmund exists.
While Brockeroff was in court last week, the public prosecutor could not produce an original charge sheet to present to the presiding magistrate.
After his latest arrest in Windhoek investigators dug around the notorious poacher’s record of clashing with the law and realised that many more pending cases against the accused person have still not been finalised.
All efforts are now being made to update existing files and dockets to see how the pending cases against the accused person can be merged in order to get him to stand trial on most of the list of counts of illegal hunting still pending against him.
During court proceedings in Swakopmund, the matter was postponed to 23 May in order for the public prosecutor to trace the original charge sheet from 2021 on which he made an appearance in court.
He is also set to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on 17 May on the latest charge of illegal hunting that was registered after he was apprehended in Eros almost a month ago.
During his first appearance in Windhoek, the presiding magistrate remanded him and his accomplice, Markus Rooinasie, in the custody of the Namibian Police.
In 2011 Derrick and his brother, Francois were also remanded in custody after they were caught with the carcasses of 11 gemsbok in the Tamariskia neighbourhood of Swakopmund.
