Travesty as cyanide Criminal Marida escapes with paltry fine

BULAWAYO–Foreign national and former fugitive Maria Magdalena ‘Marida’ Van Der Spuy who had been on the run and was wanted in connection with illegally storing undocumented cyanide resurfaced recently in the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo and pleaded guilty to a crime she had vehemently denied.

The South African pastry chef who masqueraded as a competent shared services expert in mining circles in Zimbabwe thanks to a souped up Curriculum Vitae, has however raised a stink following revelations that the Environmental Management Agency had her fined a paltry US$700 which is clearly not deterrent enough for her and potential future offenders.

Van Der Spuy and co-accused Chinese national Li Song both got off the hook for a song, with Ms Song being ordered to pay a fine of US$1000 in a case in which it would seem foreigners can flout national laws contemptuously knowing they can get way with a mere slap on the wrist.

The case outcome report for the case was penned by Detective Sergeant Zinyoro and reads “Maria Magdalena Van Der Spuy aged 47 years was charged for c/s 6(1) (a) of SI 268/2018 of EMA Act Chapter 20:22 “allowing persons to handle hazardous substances without being trained at 105 Plumtree road- same was rep by Nkosiyabo Sibanda of Tanaka Law Chambers and she paid a deposit fine of $700USD receipt number BYN00218 and BYN00217.

However, the irony in Marida Van Der Spuy’s plea of guilty is that she had previously sworn through a letter penned by her lawyers addressed to her former employers that she was clean as a whistle and a ‘law abiding citizen’-something that she clearly was not.

The cyanide stash, all 40 tonnes of it plus four which had been tampered with and accessed illegally, raised concerns considering that Bulawayo had in recent times become the bedrock of poaching, with cyanide being the substance of choice where poachers poisoned watering holes in protected areas and national parks before dehorning particularly elephants once they will have succumbed to the poison.

The domino effect has sadly been the death of other animals and birds that will have consumed the carcasses of the dead elephants. The insignificant consequences for anyone that flouts the rules of transporting and holding dangerous substances like cyanide means more people, poachers included, are bound to take the risk knowing people like Marida and Song have set a precedent that will hardly dent their pockets.

Apart from unqualified self-styled forensic investigator Rob Forfar and Li Song was the involvement of Bulawayo professional game hunter Wayne Jardine, who had negotiated with Van Der Spuy to get the contraband a home after they were stuck with it and had no other place to store it. Jardine evaded any legal consequences in the fiasco.

This plea of guilt comes after months of a game of cat and mouse where Van Der Spuy was reported to be going in and out of Zimbabwe and Bulawayo with reported sightings of her family including her husband Tyron Van Der Spuy, au pair Heidi Bahr, her son who she had been putting in and out of school to fit her fugitive lifestyle as well as her intimate partner in crime Rober”’ w Robert Rob Forfar she was accused of storing the illegal cyanide stash with.

Having escaped this dark chapter, the sword of Damocles still hangs over Van Der Spuy as a slew of charges will be laid before the pastry chef and are currently either with police or on the verge of being baked pending serving.