THE MERCURY
Sporting bruises and cuts, mountaineer Sean Wisedale is accompanied by his wife, Katherine Rowan, for his appearance in the Durban Magistrates Court on multiple charges, including drunk driving. Photo: Zanele Zulu
Durban – Adventurer Sean Wisedale, in the news for rousing the leafy suburb of Glenwood at dawn on Sunday with a tirade against his neighbours, culminating with him smashing down a gate with his car, says he plans to move out.
Speaking outside the Durban Magistrate’s Court where he appeared on charges of disturbing the peace, malicious injury to property and drunk driving on Monday, he (with his wife Katherine Rowan at his side) revealed a long-term plan to pack up with their two-year-old daughter and move to eMdloti, north of Durban.
“We have a lot to do before it can happen,” Wisedale said, “But we recently bought land there.”
The pending move had nothing to do with the ongoing feud in which Wisedale and his neighbours were embroiled, he explained.
He and Rowan wanted to move closer to the airport because Wisedale travelled regularly.
“And we love the North Coast,” he added.
In what his neighbours have described as the latest in a series of outbursts, 47-year-old Wisedale was arrested outside his home after Sunday’s incident and released later in the day on bail of R1 000.
Battered and bruised, he appeared briefly in court on Monday.
He told the court he had suffered injuries to his eye, lip and ribs at the hands of an angry mob.
“I was being hounded by Blue Security, the police and my neighbours so I tried to run away but they caught me and beat me up,” he said.
The matter was postponed until February.
Wisedale has accused neighbours Sean and Janet Simons of running an illegal self-catering establishment from their property.
“The noise is unbearable… None of the other neighbours can appreciate it because they don’t hear it like we do,” he said.
He simply “lost it” on Sunday.
“I know it was radical and I shouldn’t have done it,” he said, “But I am at the end of my wits.”
Sean Simons said on Monday night that he and his wife legally rented out a cottage on their property to a professional young couple. “We’ve never had any problems with them, nor have any of the other neighbours,” he said, “They’re lovely.”
Wisedale is a well-known film-maker, mountaineer and motivational speaker.
He was the first South African to climb the Seven Summits and recently returned from Russia where he led an expedition up Mt Elbrus.
The Mercury
