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A former SA National Parks game ranger has received a reprieve from the Pretoria High Court, which has found a magistrate erred in sending him to jail for five years for assaulting an alleged poacher and for allegedly kidnapping and holding him hostage for a week.

Judges Francis Legodi and Raymond Zondo found Joseph Radzwinani should have received a five-year sentence, suspended in total.

He had served several months before the high court stepped in.

The judges replaced his sentence with a seven-month term, but because he had done jail time, his sentence was considered served.

When it granted him leave to appeal last year, the high court ordered that Radzwinani be released immediately from prison.

He was supervisor to three game rangers when he was arrested in August 2010 at Mapungubwe in Limpopo. A man, Steven Makgaelo, was brought to him at about midnight in March 2009. It was said he had been found poaching.

The man was detained in a staff room, to be interrogated later. Radzwinani told the lower court he handcuffed Makgaelo, whipped him with an electric cable and burnt him with a steel cable on his arms and feet. He had wanted Makgaelo to give him information about his poaching activities.

When Radzwinani realised he had injured Makgaelo, he took him to his relatives and asked for forgiveness. He felt so bad, he promised to try to find work for Makgaelo at the game park.

Radzwinani took Makgaelo home with him and he stayed in the guest bedroom for about a week. Radzwinani’s manager said he could not offer Makgaelo a job as he did not have a South African ID.

Realising Makgaelo could not be employed and feeling terrible about what he had done, Radzwinani gave himself up to police.

He pleaded guilty before a magistrate to assault and kidnapping. On the kidnapping charge, it was alleged Makgaelo had been kept hostage for more than a week.

Radzwinani explained the assault to the magistrate and told him he had taken Makgaelo home and tried to find him a job.

The judges said the magistrate should have realised Makgaelo was not kept hostage. It was clear he had not been detained against his will. He had even gone looking for mopani worms with Radzwinani’s children, the judges said.

The court found that Radzwinani, a widower and a first offender, did not deserve a five-year term. He felt such remorse he had even offered to pay compensation to Makgaelo. - Pretoria News