Tourists fined for stealing boat

The trio was convicted of two counts of contravening Section 116 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23 (unlawful borrowing or use of property) and contravening Section 129 (1) (3) as read with Section 37 (1) (b) of the Parks and Wildlife Regulations 1262/1990 of the Parks and Wildlife Act, Chapter 20:12 (using a vessel during the night).

Trzcinski, Dabrowski and Perini were convicted on their own plea of guilty. For the first count, they were each fined $200 (or four months in prison) and $300 each (or five months in prison) for the second count. It was the State case as presented by the prosecutor, Miss Namatai Ngwashi, that on 23 September at around 4pm, the three tourists arrived in Victoria Falls from South Africa and were booked at A ‘Zambezi River Lodge.

At 11pm, the trio went to Zambezi Fishing Safaris jetty along the Zambezi River. While at the jetty they untied a fishing boat which was docked, belonging to Mr Cornelis Jacob Gelduys of House Number 550 Aerodrome, Victoria Falls, who is the director of Zambezi Fishing Safaris and peddled it into the Zambezi River waters, putting the boat to use without the complainant’s authority. After peddling for about two hours, Trzcinski, Dabrowski and Perini returned the boat to the jetty. The hotel authorities discovered the offence and alerted the police at Victoria Falls leading to their arrest. The boat is valued at $6 000 and was recovered.

Source: Tourists fined for stealing boat  (28/09/12)