The trio was seen in discussions with their legal representative before they briefly took to the stand for less than five minutes and were allowed to leave.

North West Hawks spokesperson, Tlangelani Rikhotso, said the case against the three has been provisionally withdrawn for further DNA investigations and the accused were dismissed on bail of R10 000 each.

Rikhotso told OFM News that a new court date has not been set yet and that once the investigation is concluded, the men will be summoned back to court.

OFM News attempted multiple times to get comments from the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation, and Tourism but hit a dead end. The spokesperson for the North West Department of Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development, Dumisa Seshabela, asked officials dealing with issues of conservation to reply to OFM News, however, they did not respond to text and calls despite promising.

OFM News/Joba Matsheng