Wayne Lotter murder: 11 sentenced to death in Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam. Eleven people were on Friday, December, 2 handed  death sentences  after they were convicted of murdering top elephant conservationist, Wyne Lotter on August 16, 2017.

Mr Lotter, a 51-year-old South African conservationist, was shot and killed at Masaki, Dar es Salaam after arriving from the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) to his hotel.

His taxi was stopped by another vehicle and two men, one armed with a gun opened his car door and shot him at point blank range. He had received numerous death threats while battling international ivory-trafficking networks.

He was a co-founder of the PAMS Foundation which worked to stop the rampant poaching of elephants and trafficking of ivory in Tanzania.

The NGO that was started in Tanzania in 2009 provided conservation and anti-poaching support to communities and governments in Africa.

High Court judge Laila Mgonya convicted the 11 including two Burundians, saying 32 witnesses lined up in support of prosecution’s case have proven the case against them beyond reasonable doubt.

Those convicted with their residences in brackets include Rahma Almas (Mbagala B), Nduimana Ogiste (Burundian), Godfrey Salamba (Kinondoni Msisiri A) and Chambie Juma Ally (Kia/Boma).

Others are Allan Elikana Mafue, Ismail Issah Mohammed alias Machips, Leonard Phillipo Makoi, Ayoub Selemani Kiholi, Abuu Omary Mkingie, Habonimanda Augustine Nyandwi (Burundi) and Michael Duv

Initially, 22 people were arraigned over the murder, but four were freed after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dropped charges against them, the remaining were set free after the court found them with no case to answer.

The accused were facing two counts of conspiracy in the murder of Mr Lotter for which the court yesterday convicted the 11 men of the two counts.

The PAMS Foundation funded and supported Tanzania’s elite anti-poaching National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU) which was responsible for arrests of major ivory traffickers including Yang Feng Glan, the so-called “Queen of Ivory” and several other notorious elephant poachers.

Mr Lotter was due to attend a meeting with members of Tanzania’s elite anti-poaching NTSCIU in Dar es Salaam when he was shot dead. Since 2012, the unit has arrested more than 2,000 poachers and ivory traffickers and has a conviction rate of 80 percent. Mr Lotter was on record saying during an interview that he believed its work had helped to reduce poaching rates in Tanzania by at least 50 percent.

The latest elephant census data suggests that elephant populations fell by 30 percent in Africa between 2007 and 2014.

Tanzania experienced one of the biggest declines in elephant numbers, where the census documented a 60 percent decrease in the population.

Mr Lotter was a big figure in the international conservation community, having served on the boards of several conservation groups and was the Vice President of the International Ranger Federation.

Lotter’s last moments

A day after he was shot dead, The Citizen’s sources and the police recounted the last moments of Mr Lotter before he was killed at the junction of Haile Selassie and Kaole roads in Masaki at 11.52pm.

He and Ms Clark, a colleague at the PAMs Foundation in Arusha, left Kilimanjaro International Airport at about 10.30pm aboard a Precision Air flight. They landed at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) at about 11.30pm where they hired a taxi.

“On arrival, Mr Lotter summoned a taxi driver he has used for the last 10 years. The driver was to take them to Baobab Village in Masaki where they planned to spend the night,” said our sources.

“The car was, however, ambushed at the busy intersection by another van which blocked it from the front. Three gunmen then jumped out and confronted the driver as they demanded that he switches off the ignition.” “As the drama with the driver ensued, the other gunmen opened the back door and demanded that the duo handover dollars.

Soon after one of them shot Mr Lotter before they took away three laptops and two hand luggage,” explained the source close to the NTSCIU.

The suspects escaped in an unmarked car leaving a shocked diver and woman at the scene.

Wayne is survived by  his wife Inge, daughters Cara Jayne and Tamsin, and parents Vera and Charles Lotter.