Stephen Rabey Matthews - Murder, Witchcraft and the Killing of Wildlife: Memoirs of a Police Officer in the Heart of Africa

MURDER, WITCHCRAFT AND THE KILLING OF WILDLIFE

MEMOIRS OF A POLICE OFFICER IN THE HEART OF AFRICA

This book is dedicated to all those police officers, friends and colleagues who served in the elite Northern Rhodesia Police, irrespective of colour or creed, and to those who lost their lives or suffered life-changing injuries through their devotion, commitment and courage in safeguarding the country and its people through to Independence.

And to the ever-bright memory of Graf Von Schwarzwald, aka my boy Alex, the magnificent Doberman, born 12 May 1961, who was my most trusted and loyal friend, imbued with inestimable courage and who was frequently prepared to lay down his life for me and his family, and who saved my life on several occasions.

I told them we had buried my boy Alex in his favourite summer spot, with his ball and his bowl, but this was not the complete truth, for he lies forever within my heart.

Stephen R. Matthews

MEMOIRS OF A POLICE OFFICER IN THE HEART OF AFRICA

STEPHEN R. MATTHEWS

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Stephen R. Matthews, 2019

Paperback ISBN: 978 1 52676 411 9

Hardback ISBN: 978 1 52676 407 2

eISBN: 978 1 52676 408 9

Mobi ISBN: 978 1 52676 409 6

The right of Stephen R. Matthews to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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It is an impossibility to name everyone who has given their time to ensure the book was published but it does provide me with an opportunity to record my deep appreciation for the help and support of the following:

Lee Durrell MBE PhD, For her Message of Hope and her kind permission to use the evocative poem written by her late husband Gerald Durrell OBE. Lee is an American naturalist, author, and TV presenter.

Peter le Vasseur, International Wildlife Artist, Naturalist and Ecologist and fellow Guernseyman, for his gracious permission to use reproductions of his extraordinary and thought provoking wildlife paintings.

Sharon Lewis, Widow of my friend, ex-Police colleague and award winning poet David Lewis for consenting to my using Davids inspiring Africa Poem in this book.

My late husband, Gerald Durrell, wrote the inspiring words below more than 30 years ago, after nearly a lifetime trying to make sure they would come true. Although much has been accomplished in nature conservation since then, the struggle to protect biodiversity is escalating as situations worsen on many fronts. For example, the international illegal trade in wildlife (and wildlife parts) is one of the major factors in driving species towards extinction.

Stephen Matthewss book reminds us that wildlife crime has been around a long time. Todays challenges are simply new faces of the same lawlessness. But there is something different about today the widespread public awareness of the intrinsic value of the wildlife with which we share this beautiful planet. Can that awareness be converted to action to stop the plunder of the natural world? Dare we hope that Gerrys efforts to ensure there will still be extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet have not been wasted?

Lee Durrell MBE PhD widow of the famous author and conservationist Gerald Durrell OBE.

These evocative and heartfelt words were penned by the late Gerald Durrell OBE, and buried in a time-capsule at Jersey Zoo, Channel Islands in 1988.

We hope that there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you.

We hope that your dawns will have an orchestra of bird song and that the sound of their wings and the opalescence of their colouring will dazzle you.

We hope that there will still be the extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet with you to enchant you and enrich your lives as they have done for us.

We hope that you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world.

The African Leopard

From a painting by Peter Le Vasseur.

I was once told by an editor, that the best place for the boring fragments of a book should be tucked away safely in the Preface because in his inestimable opinion no-one would ever read it!

On 3 February 1960, Britains Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, who had spent over a month travelling throughout Africa, gave a speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town, in which he stated it was his intention of granting full independence to many African territories. He went on to say that The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of natural consciousness is a political fact.