IN MAY 1999, a resident of Sweetwaters flats in Amanzimtoti, Lynn Coleman, scored a courtroom victory that allowed her to keep her beloved Yorkshire terrier, Twiggy, in her flat. The case began when the body corporate sought to enforce a no-pets policy.

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Coleman, who lived at Sweetwaters at the time and once served as a trustee, was found to be keeping Twiggy without formal consent. Despite repeated letters demanding the dog’s removal, she refused, arguing that Twiggy was her only family and constant companion.

The matter ended in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, where Judge Nicolaas van der Reyden dismissed the body corporate’s case with costs, ruling that the trustees had failed to properly consider Coleman’s request to keep her dog.

Coleman, who had borrowed R18 000 for lawyers’ fees (R71 400 today), was happy with the ruling but moved at the end of the month to another property she had bought.

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