Woodstock woman fined R250,000 for illegally keeping 145 reptiles

Jacqueline Hewett was sentenced by the Cape Town Regional Court on October 22, 2026, after being convicted on six charges involving the illegal acquisition and keeping of 145 reptiles. She was fined R250,000 and sentenced to four years in prison, with an additional two-year term wholly suspended for five years on condition that she commits no wildlife-related offence. She was barred from obtaining a permit to keep wild animals in the Western Cape for five years. The reptiles, including snakes, geckos and lizards, were found in March 2023 at a shop in Observatory and at her Woodstock home.