CAWA

Eric Mararv posts on here as CAWA. This is truly said.

British man facing death penalty after 13 bodies found in Africa | Mail Online

British hunter faces death penalty for 'mass murder' in Africa after FINDING 13 victims of wanted warlord Joseph Kony
by Rebecca Evans

A British man was last night facing the death penalty after being charged with mass murder following the discovery of 13 bodies in an African jungle.

David Simpson, 24, a manager for a big game company, was arrested six weeks ago in the Central African Republic after he reported the gruesome find to police.

He found himself being thrown in prison accused of the killings, which are widely believed to have been carried out by supporters of notorious warlord Joseph Kony.

Mr Simpson, whose company offers wealthy clients the opportunity to shoot lions, leopards and buffalo, is being detained in a cramped and filthy jail cell with 80 other inmates in what he has described as a 'nightmare'.

The Yorkshire-born son of a farmer told the Daily Mail he has been charged with a crime that still carries the death penalty in the war-torn impoverished country.

Speaking yesterday on a mobile phone smuggled into prison, he said: 'For six weeks they held me without a shred of evidence.

'And now I have been forced to sign a piece of paper which states that I have been charged with murdering 13 people.

'It is just ridiculous. Everyone knows I had nothing to do with it. They know it was Kony.

'It's all about money. They think because I am white, I must be wealthy.

'When they first arrested me, my bail was set at one million euros, which is just ludicrous.

'I do not know what is going to happen. It's like a nightmare. I'm sleeping on the floor with no blankets or mattress. I just want this to be over.'

Ugandan rebel chief Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity including the abduction of thousands of children he has forced to be soldiers or sex slaves.

His troops have committed hundreds of atrocities in the Central African Republic, where he is understood to be in hiding.

He made international headlines after a video of his terrible crimes was viewed more than 90million times and highlighted by celebrities including Angelina Jolie.

Mr Simpson moved to Africa two years ago for an exciting new life away from his family's pheasant farm in Gillamoor, North Yorkshire.

As manager for the game hunting company he is also the firm's pilot, flying guests and picking up supplies.

He was helping colleagues clear a road through dense bush in the south of his firm's vast hunting reserve on March 23 when they found the mutilated bodies of workers near a gold mine.

The men had been tied together in groups of four and murdered by having boiling water poured over them. They had been cut with machetes and beaten with sticks.

He said: 'It was a terrible thing to see. They were murdered in such a methodical and brutal way, tied together in groups, face down and in circles with their heads together.
'I told the police but I didn't think for a second they would try to pin it on me.

'Kony has killed and maimed lots of villagers here. I have found the bodies of women and children he had kidnapped and then murdered.

'I led investigators to the massacre site and they took a few photos on their mobile phones, which was about the sum total of their investigation.'

Police in the capital, Bangui, detained Mr Simpson and his Swedish boss Erik Mararv after six hours of interrogation when they voluntarily went to report the massacre in the remote south-east of the country. Mr Mararv is also in custody.

His company Cawa offers clients the chance to hunt wild game at a cost of thousands of pounds, with the cost of shooting a lion around 20,000 pounds.

Mr Simpson's brother Paul, 22, who lives with their parents, Peter, 57, and Vicky, 55, on their farm, said: 'I just hope the police come to their senses and release him.'

The Foreign Office said it was providing consular assistance.

a very nasty situation to be in.

Having fought in two bush wars for almost thirteen years, I'll tell you this. No man, possessing even, if only, a single iota of either compassion, conscience or dignity, can begin to comprehend, let alone make sense of, the barbaric hideousness of the cruelty and violence that these 'things' are capable of. It is sad that this young man is caught up in thiss mess. I hope that his family have the means to put together a crew to spring him, because I, personally, have not much faith in 'consular assistance'.

Sad but to often true story, just getting ready for another UN tour in the DRC and more often than not it is always about the money ... i wish him good luck

This is crazy! Best wishes to Erik's wife, sister and the rest of the CAWA team. Hope it all comes good and the situation is resolved with no further grief for the Mararv's and their crew.

That is the bad news that explains why hunting was interrupted.
Truly awful.
I feel for the men and their families.

Thanks Mike. This has to get resolved soon.

Wow, what a sad story.

DOCMAN said:

Having fought in two bush wars for almost thirteen years, I'll tell you this. No man, possessing even, if only, a single iota of either compassion, conscience or dignity, can begin to comprehend, let alone make sense of, the barbaric hideousness of the cruelty and violence that these 'things' are capable of. It is sad that this young man is caught up in thiss mess. I hope that his family have the means to put together a crew to spring him, because I, personally, have not much faith in 'consular assistance'.

Click to expand...

with you on your summing up of their capabilities, and the total lack of their giving a flying f...k about consular assistance.

Another place where time moves very slowly...

This could take years before it will be brought to the courts.

All it takes is a rumour and you are guilty.


Dear hunters and friends,

We know that some of you are already aware of the situation, and we have therefore decided to send this email out to all of you, to make sure you receive the same information. We have today decided to officially close down our 2012 hunting season in CAR, for the following reasons.

On 22 March, a few gold miners were found killed in a gold mine just south of our hunting concession. Since CAWA was apparently not targeted, we didn't see this as a threat against us, but many of our workers had family or friends among the ones who had been killed, so understandably, they were all very sad and upset. We immediately made it clear to our employees that those who were directly touched by the tragedy were free to quit work and go back home, but that we hoped that the remaining part of the staff would finish the season together with us. However we soon realized that almost all the trackers wanted to leave, as well as an important part of the camp staff.

The hunters who were currently in the area were informed of the situation, and of the fact that we would not be able to live up to our standards with such big part of the staff members going out. We then made the decision, together with them, that it would be wiser to cancel the safaris and fly all hunters to Bangui, which was also done.

At this time, we still had hopes that the situation would calm down pretty soon and that part of the staff would get back to work again. However, a rumor started spreading in Bakouma, our nearest larger village, saying that it was actually CAWA that was responsible for the death of the gold miners. There is evidently no truth behind this rumor, indeed we had been in contact with the gold miners since they had been disturbing the hunt in the southern part of our area, but to accuse us of such a terrible act is totally out of sense. Nevertheless, the situation in Bakouma became quite tense, and Erik was asked to fly down to Bangui to explain what had happened. Once in Bangui, after a few meetings with several authorities, a decision was made to keep him under surveillance in Bangui until things had calmed down a bit.

With this situation, it has become obvious that we cannot continue hunting this season. We are very confident that everything will eventually be cleared out, but at this stage we have no means to carry through any more safaris this year, and that is why we have made the decision to close down the season.

We will now proceed with the documentation for trophy export and those of you that have hunted with us this season will receive a personal email with information about when the trophies will be shipped.

We thank you all for your understanding in this unfortunate situation. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get back to us.

Sincerely

Emelie Mararv
Owner

Central African Wildlife Adventures
Tel CAR: +236 75 206957
Tel SAT: +88 216 692 516 63 (currently in use)
Tel SAT: +88 216 212 074 95
Tel Europe: +46 73 0735285
E-mail: emelie.mararv@cawasafari.com
Web: Central African Wildlife Adventures - The most exclusive safari company in Central Africa

Sush a shame, its hard to beleive in this day and age. Good luck to them.

This is really sad! I had a discussion the other day with a couple of friends about these kinds of situations in Africa. I feel people truly do not understand what goes on in the world. They do not understand the brutality that goes on in some of these African counties. Most people live their lives and do not understand the struggles of its people. We live in a wonderful place and try to judge others when we have never seen anything like their struggle. One can only hope that everything works out for the good for Mr Simpson.

Hi all,

Here is a link of Emilie's blog if you want to ask her any questions..
Central African Wildlife Adventures.
In any case I am confident for the next hunting season, it is just question of time ....

Best Christophe

I heard from Emelie just now and it seems they are confident that they are on the way to a solution and the boys are in good spirits. Look forward to a swift resolution for all concerned, both the CAWA team and the families of the miners.

Thanks for the update Christophe.

Emilie is certainly upbeat. She has certainly learned patience living in there.
Here's hoping for them all.

there was a double page article in the uk "daily mail" newspaper last saturday (9th june) about david simpson and the situation he is in. they had an interview and a photo of him behind bars. still there and from the article it didnt seem like any progress had been made.