A F F I D A V I T
I, the undersigned
CAROLYN ZAPPETTI
Do hereby make oath and state:
- I am a white female residing at 29 Chelsea DriveDurban North 4051South Africa since 1982, without incident.
- The facts deposed to in this Affidavit are within my personal
knowledge.
- In what follows I deal with certain background facts in order to
place this charge of trespassing and malicious damage made with the South African Police in perspective.
- On the 20 December 2011 I left my residence to take a holiday.
5. In my absence one Natalie Gorven a house sitter known to me
and trusted as such having worked for me previously, agreed to visit the house every 2-3 days for security reasons.
6. This she did without incident until my return on 6 January 2012- when she reported that upon entering the property on the 5
January she was horrified to find the garden hosepipe used to top up theswimming pool lodged in the weir of the pool, secured with a brick, with water running full blast into the pool itself. On checking she found no further damage or theft.
7. She was unable to say exactly when this had been done, when the person responsible for this vicious act had gained entry to
the premises and how, but had not been aware of this on her visit 2 days previously when she had checked the pool for chlorine.
- We discussed who would have reason for this vicious act but as
I know hardly anyone in Durban North and have an extremely
good relationship with my immediate neighbours at No 27 and
No 31 Chelsea Drive and at ChelseaPreparatory School, we
reached no conclusion.
- We then discussed how they had in fact entered the property.
This would only been possible by vaulting over my 2.00 metre
solid wood electric gateor by climbing over the entrance gate of No 27 and then vaulting over the dividing concrete wall at a
certain point near my wooden gate. It is impossible to enter at
any other boundary point due to foliage and razor wire on the
remainder of the boundary walls on back & sides of my property.
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10. My neighbours at No 27 were also away during this period, and had I been home my Rottweiler would have been on patrol.
11. I telephoned Metro Water within a day or so of my return to
explain what had happened but received no advice other than I
would have to wait until I received my Metro Bill. I received
no advice on laying a charge of trespass or malicious damage
with the South African Police in case of excessive water charges.
- I received my first Bill dated 23 January 2012 with Water billed
at R31.00 plus Vat which is more or less normal for my monthly usage.
- I received my second bill dated 22 February 2012 on 29 February
2012 with Water billed at R6180.21 and Sewage at R1668.81 plus
Vat on both figures.
- I immediately telephoned the Water Department to ask what I
should do about this horrendous Water bill under the circumstances and again was given no advice whatsoever other than that I would have to pay it as this would not be classified as a leak or damaged water pipes etc and was therefore not claimable under the Metro’s Water loss Insurance. Only after speaking with a friend who has contacts at Metro was I advised to lay a charge with the South African Police.
15. After giving this matter considerable thought, discussing it with neighbours etc., in my mind the only possibility for an act of this nature would appear to be connected to the matter of my
domestic refuse removal, or lack of, on occasions during the whole
of 2011 and again on 2 March 2012 when my 2 bags of refuse
were quite deliberately left behind on the pavement in the sun.
16. As my house is directly opposite ChelseaPreparatory School, the
School puts their refuse bins out every Friday for removal. My
refuse bags are on the pavement alongside the bins, so it is
physically impossible to ignore them.
17. During the course of 2011 there were numerous occasions that
my refuse was left behind with the worst being in May 2011 when
my 3 bags had 2 other bags added to them and all left behind. It
took several calls to various people in City Waste to explain the
position and Logan arranged for it to be collected.
- I had to call again yesterday as I only saw late Friday night that
my 2 bags had again been left behind on the pavement and Arvin
arranged for them to be collected.
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19. As no refuse bags were put out for removal during my absence
from 20 December 2011 to 6 January 2012 it would have been
apparent to anyone paying attention that I was obviously away
along with my faithful Rottweiler.
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PLAINTIFF
The terms of Regulation R1258 published in Government Gazette No 1369 of the 21st July 1972 as amended, having been complied with, I hereby certify that the Deponent has acknowledged that he/she knows and understands the contents of this Affidavit, which was signed and sworn to at on this day of 2012.
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COMMISSIONER OF OATHS