WALVIS BAY, Namibia - A Namibian judge dismissed charges on Monday against a
South African photographer arrested for trespassing while trying to snap a shot
of pregnant superstar Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt.
John Liebenberg was taken into custody on Friday afternoon after driving into
the back of a police barracks in search of a vantage point to take a photograph
of a nearby private hospital in the port town of Walvis bay.
The 48-year-old veteran photo journalist was reacting to a tip-off that Jolie
had been rushed there to have her baby.
He was released on a warning after being detained for three days in a
communal cell.
"It might be that you are a foreigner and that you were arrested for
trespassing (but) why was it necessary to keep you in custody for the whole
weekend?" Walvis Bay magistrate Sarel Jacobs asked during sentencing.
"I don't understand that and I think it was unnecessary," he added before
dismissing the charge.
The prosecution had asked for a fine of 1,000 Namibian dollars ($152) or a
year in prison. Liebenberg's lawyer had suggested a fine.
Liebenberg, well known to the couple's bodyguards and security personnel,
said police may have wanted to use him as an example to warn other photographers
and media.
"They probably wanted to make an example of me to the other so-called nasty
paparazzi press. But we have been very respectful to them," he told Reuters.
Pitt, 42, and Jolie, 30 -- dubbed "Brangelina" by the tabloid press -- have
sparked a media frenzy since arriving in the southern African country over six
weeks ago to have their first child, far from the prying lenses of Hollywood.
Their bodyguards and Namibian security have shielded the couple from
journalists and hounded some out of town.
Green cloth screens mask the beach resort where they are staying, while
pepper-spraying bodyguards and undercover police have made it almost impossible
to get close.
Jolie's due date had been reported to be May 18.
