Overview

• The High Court in Mbombela on 25 September 2025 sentenced 38-year-old Napoleon Joseph Nyalunga to 25 years’ direct imprisonment for the killing of 67-year-old German tourist Jorg Schnarr.
• Additional sentences of 10 years for attempted robbery, seven years for illegal firearm possession, and two years for illegal possession of ammunition will run partly concurrently for an effective 25-year term.
• Evidence showed a Volkswagen Golf blocked the tourists’ minibus near the Numbi Gate to Kruger National Park before gunmen opened fire, with Schnarr dying at the scene while en route to Mdluli Safari Lodge.
• Co-accused Marshall Cebo Mamba and Bongumusa Matsane were acquitted after the court found insufficient evidence linking them to the crime.
• The National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the conviction and sentence, noting the prosecutor had argued for a mandatory life term and emphasizing efforts to curb violent crime targeting visitors and residents.