Thai woman 'cried' next to shot rhino

2011-07-25 10:03

Julian Rademeyer, Beeld

Johannesburg - A young Thai woman says she cried when she had to pose with a gun next to a rhino carcass during an alleged faked trophy hunt.

The woman, who wanted to be identified only as “Wan” out of fear, said she had not shot the rhino herself and also didn’t know that a copy of her passport was used to obtain a hunting permit for it.

“I was very sad and cried,” said Wan. “I don’t agree with it. I think it was wrong to shoot a big animal like that.”

Wan and another young woman, “Wi”, told reporters they accompanied members of the alleged rhino horn syndicate to the farm of lion breeder and safari operator, Marnus Steyl , in North West.

The two women said they were under the impression that they would “entertain” Thai tourists, for which they would get R5 000 and a free holiday.

Posed as hunters

Beeld has a photograph, which was apparently taken in March this year on the farm. In it, Wi stands behind a blood-covered rhino carcass and smiles. Steyl stands behind her, with his hands on her shoulders.

Beeld revealed last week that Steyl had apparently supplied rhino horn worth millions of rands to Xaysavang Trading Export Import, a front company for the syndicate, and that the syndicate planned to shoot 15 rhino per month.

The syndicate also hired Thai women, some of them prostitutes and strippers, to pose as hunters. In line with permit regulations, a hunter may shoot one rhino per year and the women ensured that the syndicate had a pool of “hunters”.

Both Wan and Wi on Saturday denied emphatically that they worked in the sex industry.

“Not all Thai women who come to work in South Africa are prostitutes or strippers,” said Wi with the help of an interpreter.

“It makes me very angry if people say the women are strippers or prostitutes. I live here with my boyfriend.”

A Midrand businessman, whose Thai wife introduced about six of the women to syndicate members, said he only realised that something was wrong when they came back with hunting photographs from their “holiday”.

“My wife organised the women for them. They are all friends of hers and she thought she was getting them jobs in tourism. She also organised copies of their passports.

“The guys said nothing about rhino hunting.”

“When the women came back with photos of rhinos and horns I realised something wasn’t right. I told my wife: You stop this shit and leave these people alone, because you’re going to get into shit.”

“I also reported it to the police but they did fuck all.”

'I felt sorry for the rhino'

Wi said she was not present when the rhino was shot.

“I was at the farmstead and the hunt happened in the veld. I was later taken there. When I saw the rhino for the first time, I wasn’t sure if the animal was still alive or dead.”

One of the syndicate members told her: “Go stand there next to the rhino with the gun. We want to take a photograph.”

“I thought it was so that I could show people in Thailand because we don’t have animals like that there. I felt sorry for the rhino. Why did they have to kill the animal? Before then I had only seen a rhino on TV.”

Asked why she was smiling in the photograph, she said: “When people take photographs, you have to smile.”

Wan said she was told to pose for a photo “to show that we were there for a holiday and that we had fun”.