Poacher without hunting licence or firearms permit faces trial
A poacher stole a rifle and killed 29 roe deer in a single night. He now stands trial in the Harz region.
Eik R. (25) grew up in the Harz region.
He loves heavy pickup trucks, precision rifles, and hunting. Yet he holds neither a driving licence nor a firearms permit. And he is not permitted to hunt either.
He lived with his grandfather, whose living room was filled with hunting trophies.
Now the wild one from the Harz sits in the dock. For Eik R. is alleged to have set out on the night of 3 August 2022 and killed 29 roe deer and three fallow deer at five locations in the hunting grounds around the village of Huy in Saxony-Anhalt, which has a population of 6,000.
100 police officers and SEK units move in for raid
A few days later, 100 police officers — supported by SEK officers and explosives detection dogs — descended on Schwanebeck and searched the property of Eik's grandfather. Michael L. (66) is a passionate hunter; his grandson lives with him in the house.
Eik R. was arrested on suspicion of poaching and spent three months in pre-trial detention. His grandfather was charged with illegal possession of ammunition.
Grandfather Michael L. invited a BILD reporter into his living room. Standing before his trophy wall, he maintained his innocence and swore: “I have nothing to do with poaching. On the alleged night of the offence, I was asleep next to my wife.”
And where was his grandson Eik? A shrug of the shoulders instead of an answer.
Grandfather also charged with illegal possession of ammunition
Now the young man from the municipality of Nordharz sits in the dock of the extended lay magistrates’ court at the Halberstadt District Court.
During a driven hunt in November 2021, Eik R. had been deployed as a beater. The public prosecutor stated: “In the course of this hunting event, the defendant stole a rifle from a hunter’s lodgings — a Blaser R8 bolt-action rifle.”
The weapon was holstered and secured with a lock, but the door of the guesthouse room could not be locked. The stolen rifle was found by police officers during the raid in Schwanebeck — hidden in straw, together with hunting ammunition, a night vision device, and the case.
Eik R. has remained silent to this day regarding all accusations. However, the projectiles later found at the crime scene could be matched to the stolen weapon. The defendant faces up to five years in prison in the criminal proceedings for poaching.
