Paintball boss in court over fence

By: MAGGI BARNARD at SWAKOPMUND

A SWAKOPMUND businessman has appeared in court on a count with causing malicious damage to state property.

The charge was laid in connection with damage caused to the Damara

tern fence just south of the resort town.

Pieter van Ginkel was arrested at his house on New Year's Eve

and appeared in Walvis Bay Magistrate's Court the same day.

 

The Magistrate told Van Ginkel to appear in court again on

January 28.

 

Van Ginkel stands accused of damaging a stretch of fence more

than one kilometre in length before Christmas when he ran over it

with a high-clearance off-road vehicle.

 

The vehicle, a Unimog, was driven right over the wooden fence

poles running into the desert opposite the well-known Vierkantklip

fishing spot just outside Swakopmund.

 

The suspect owns the paintball centre at Swakopmund.

 

This was not the first time the fence had been damaged.

 

Early last year, the section at popular Sunset Dune, just south

of Vierkantklip, was flattened several times.

 

The Damara tern project aims to conserve the breeding area of

the bird, which has become endangered.

 

Pieter van Ginkel was arrested at his house on New Year's Eve and

appeared in Walvis Bay Magistrate's Court the same day. The

Magistrate told Van Ginkel to appear in court again on January 28.

Van Ginkel stands accused of damaging a stretch of fence more than

one kilometre in length before Christmas when he ran over it with a

high-clearance off-road vehicle. The vehicle, a Unimog, was driven

right over the wooden fence poles running into the desert opposite

the well-known Vierkantklip fishing spot just outside Swakopmund.

The suspect owns the paintball centre at Swakopmund. This was not

the first time the fence had been damaged. Early last year, the

section at popular Sunset Dune, just south of Vierkantklip, was

flattened several times. The Damara tern project aims to conserve

the breeding area of the bird, which has become endangered.

---