Farmer convicted after neighbour dispute damages fence and hedge

DR reports that a 74-year-old farmer has been convicted of criminal damage after removing fencing from his neighbour’s property and driving a plough across a trench intended for a new hedge.

The case between the two neighbours in the small town of Klakring, Hedensted, has centred on 107 square metres of land at the edge of Hanne Kanzento’s property, where it borders the farmer’s fields.

The farmer had used the land as part of his agricultural operations for many years and believed he was entitled to it under an agreement with a previous owner. Kanzento said it belonged to her property after she moved into the house in 2022.

According to the indictment, the farmer pulled up iron posts and chicken wire fencing from Kanzento’s land and threw it into her garden. He also drove onto her property with a plough, damaging a trench for a new hedge.

The farmer’s lawyer rejected Kanzento’s claim that he had repeatedly removed the fence. Kanzento said she found it distressing to see a fence she had worked hard to install being pulled up “again and again”.

The court sentenced the farmer to five day-fines of 250 kroner each. He has accepted the verdict.

Kanzento said the dispute had been exhausting and that she no longer felt safe at the property, which she now mainly uses as a holiday home. She had previously brought a civil case against the farmer, and in July the court in Horsens ruled that he had not acquired a right to the land through long-term use.

The farmer did not wish to be interviewed. His lawyer, Louise Reuss Boesen, said he believed he had been portrayed inaccurately, adding that he had worked for 60 years, had no previous convictions and was well liked in the local community.