"
An ecological massacre
": up to six years in prison was required Tuesday, September 7 in Rennes for a vast trafficking in ivory and rhino horns.
The heaviest sentences were called for against the "
Rathkeale Rovers
", an Irish itinerant delinquency group.
Read alsoInternational trafficking in ivory and rhino horns tried in France
This case constitutes "
a real cultural and ecological massacre
", launched the representative of the public prosecutor Vincent Mailly, in reference to the poaching generated by this traffic.
He called for prison sentences against the four members of the "
Rathkeale Rovers
", a criminal group from the Irish Traveler community, whose arrest in September 2015 marked the start of the investigation.
32,800 euros in cash in their vehicle
Tom Greene, 33, who had been arrested twice in possession of four elephant tusks and then a rhino horn, was called by the magistrate a "
predator who does not hold the gun
" and "
VRP of the rhinoceros horn
”: six years in prison were required against him. For his brother Richard O'Riley, 35, who accompanies him in his cases, the prosecutor requested four years in prison. He finally requested a year in prison against their accomplices Edward Gammel, 29, and Daniel Mc Carthy, 33. The magistrate also requested arrest warrants against these defendants of British nationality, who did not appear at trial.
"
These requisitions are cultural because they are completely disproportionate to the role of travelers (travelers, editor's note)
", protested Me Philippe Péjoine, who defends two of the defendants. The Bordeaux lawyer described his clients as “
needy,
uneducated
” and “
poorly educated
” who take “
a small ticket
” by trafficking but do not generate most of the profit.
Three of the "
Rathkeale Rovers
", who claim to be second-hand dealers, were arrested by customs officers on the night of September 10 to 11, 2015 on the national 10, in Vienne.
On board their vehicle: four African elephant tusks weighing 42.6 kg and 32,800 euros in cash.
Customs officials then uncovered two networks of international trafficking in raw ivory and rhinoceros horn to Vietnam and China, both in relation to the "
Rathkeale Rovers
".
Five years in prison required against a business owner
"
The Irish are aces of the loophole
", described at the bar Jacky Bonnemains, of the Robin des Bois association, civil party in the lawsuit. "
They are suspected of having stolen rhino horns from many museums in the European Union,
" he pointed out.
In his indictment, the prosecutor also requested five years in prison, including two years suspended, against David Ta, a 51-year-old entrepreneur specializing in the export of antiques and perfumes, suspected of having directed a Franco-Vietnamese elephant tusk trafficking network.
The latter, in whom 14 African elephant tusks had been discovered hidden under a pallet without valid supporting documents, presented himself on Monday as a simple collector, leaving the court dubious.
Read also Why more and more elephants are born without their tusks
From the photos contained in David Ta's phone, investigators also counted 62 tusks that passed through his company between November 2015 and April 2016. "
Mr. Ta is a collector but, above all, he is an enthusiast
", advanced his lawyer Me Aurélie Sourisseau, denouncing the "
absurd theory which would consist in putting him at the head of an ivory cartel
". Against David Ta's assistant, Quan Do Danh, 41, in whom “
an ivory cutting workshop
” was discovered, three years were required, two of which were suspended.
The magistrate requested lighter sentences against the alleged members of the Franco-Chinese sector, namely a two-year prison sentence, including 18 months suspended, another two years fully accompanied by the suspension and an acquittal. The customs services demanded a fine of 1.177 million euros. "
You can, by the severity of your sentence, stifle this madness of wildlife trafficking,
" Bonnemains told the court. Because “
before smuggling, there is poaching, which takes on extremely important, cruel, almost military proportions.
"