Guard hut saga charges against Sean Wisedale withdrawn

Charges of malicious damage to property against eminent mountaineer Sean Wisedale have been withdrawn.

Wisedale is alleged to have‚ on two separate occasions‚ used a car to tow a wooden security hut from its base and relocate it in Bellamont Road in the plush seaside hamlet of Umdloti. The climber and acclaimed public speaker maintains that the hut has been illegally placed.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said both cases had been withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority.

“A 51-year-old male was arrested and charged. He appeared at the Verulam Magistrates’ Court on 27 October 2017. The charges were withdrawn pending police investigation‚” he said.

Zwane confirmed that a second charge‚ registered when Wisedale was detained last week‚ was also withdrawn.

In a letter sent to The Times‚ Wisedale said he had been detained unlawfully at the behest of the Umdloti Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP).

“The guard hut was inspected by a private investigator and documented to have no damage. The charge was frivolous‚ malicious and withdrawn‚” he said.

He said that on Monday‚ after he moved the hut for the second time‚ he had engaged with the community policing forum squad.

He said that despite being granted bail of R500 he was taken to a cell and detained unlawfully.

“We are a large‚ mature family of lawmen. My wife and I have a 13 month old and a five year old. We think and act broad-mindedly‚ within the scope and gamut of the law and in the interest of it. It frustrates me when individuals and organisations make unilateral‚ unlawful decisions without consultation which impact on our lives.”

“We don’t need the ‘UIP’‚ their ideology‚ self-justification and fear mongering. We look after our properties. We have ADT. I have offered my services free of charge to assist them. The UIP insist on thrusting their agenda upon us. We will always take defensible action to thwart narrow agendas of this kind.”