Six members of the so-called Chitiyo rhino-poaching gang received lengthy jail sentences in a landmark judgment in the Makhanda High Court on Wednesday. They were convicted last September on charges of conspiring to poach rhinos and the illegal possession of heavy-calibre firearms and ammunition. Makhanda High Court judge Gerald Bloem handed down sentences ranging from 16 to 20 years, in front of a courtroom packed with conservationists who turned up in their numbers to show how they feel about wildlife crimes. Sentencing proceedings were previously postponed due to the brazen escape of some of the accused from the Waainek Correctional Facility in Makhanda last year, with one of the escapees rearrested on an Eastern Cape game farm. Welcoming the lengthy sentences, Nelson Mandela Bay conservationist, Ayesha Cantor said the Eastern Cape "has a great track record regarding catching the poachers, denying them bail, and then prosecuting them in a relatively short space of time."