/ 26 December 1998

Teen vandal rampage

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.00pm.

THREE fifteen-year olds were arrested on Wednesday in connection with causing an estimated R1-million worth of damage at a Western Cape farm.

The youths allegedly went on a 20-hour vandalising spree at a farmhouse near Napier on Tuesday, damaging the furniture, computers, television sets and other equipment, newspapers on Thursday reported. The teenagers also tried to open the safe — unsuccessfully.

The farm belongs to Kosie van Zyl, who went on holiday on Tuesday and asked his father, a neigbouring farmer, to keep an eye on the property.

The teenagers also got into the farm shed where the vehicles were kept and went for joy rides in seven of them. Some ended up in a nearby river and there was extensive damage to a harvestor, a Massy Ferguson tractor and a 4×4 motorbike.

One of the teenagers arrested lives on Van Zyl’s farm while the other two come from neighbouring farms, Boland police said. Police are investigating seven charges of driving a vehicle without the owner’s permission and five charges of housebreaking.

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