Durban - Renowned adventurer and motivational speaker Sean Wisedale, arrested in connection with an incident outside his Glenwood home last year, has heard in the Durban Magistrate’s Court that the charges have been withdrawn.
Wisedale, 47, was charged with drunk driving and malicious injury to property after the incident in August.
The State alleged that Wisedale verbally abused his neighbours and drove his SUV into his neighbour’s gate in Haraldene Road many times after being angered by noise and disruptions from one of his neighbours’ properties.
The gate, and the road it leads to, runs alongside the units on the property and is owned by one of the residents.
It was also alleged that Wisedale attempted to flee from the scene when police arrived, but he denied this.
Prosecutor Kelvin Munsamy told the court on Wednesday that the charges had to be withdrawn as a blood analysis report on Wisedale’s alcohol level had yet to be received.
Magistrate Melanie de Jager told Wisedale that the charges would be reinstated once the report became available.
She also said Wisedale could have his R1 000 bail money returned to him.
Wisedale told The Mercury earlier that the incident was due to a long-standing battle between him and neighbour Sean Simons.
It apparently related to noisy tenants who were living in a cottage on the Simons property.
Wisedale said on Wednesday he had put his home up for sale after the incident and had moved to another part of Durban.
“I am not the first neighbour who has been forced to move.”
He had also repaired the damage to the gate, which was owned by another neighbour, not Simons.
His actions had not been a “sudden act of madness”, but had come after “six years of hell” due to the noise and disruptions.
“I did not act without any reason, as was portrayed in the media – that is not the truth.”
The high noise levels had “infuriated” him, and he and his wife, Katherine Rowan, had been harassed and insulted on numerous occasions, Wisedale said.
Contacted for comment on Wenesday, Simons said he had nothing further to say about the matter.
He had previously told The Mercury that he was running a legal business, had let his cottage to a couple, and had had no problems with other neighbours.
Wisedale is a film-maker and mountaineer.
He was the first South African to climb the Seven Summits – the highest peaks on each of the seven continents.
The Mercury