[imagesource: Pam Golding Properties]

Just say the words ‘Hugo, bel die polisie’ and most people will understand what you’re referring to.

Then there was last year’s now-infamous brawl between neighbours in Kyalami Estate, which had everything that a spectacle needs to amuse the public for weeks on end.

That brawl found its way to court, but the charges were later dropped and the families involved shook hands and moved on. An anticlimactic end to the drama, but an end nonetheless.

The same can’t be said for feuding Camps Bay neighbours Trevor Foster and Clem Kirst, where after six years of back and forth, the Cape Town High Court has been brought in to settle things.

Per TimesLIVE, Foster runs a guesthouse in the upmarket suburb which he says is plagued by Kirst’s tendency to (allegedly) cause a “noise disturbance” by “shouting or raising his voice”.

This includes, but is not limited to, uttering profanities (usually at his wife and kids) that can be heard by guests who have put in multiple complaints.

Foster, a former chartered accountant, traced the fallout to December 2014 when “I was disturbed by the sound of drums being played very loudly from [Kirst’s] property”.

In 2018, Foster obtained an interim interdict designed to stop the ruckus. It was finalised in February last year.

Let’s take a look at some of the key incidents that Kirst is accused of, outlined in a 25-page affidavit that was submitted to the High Court.

In 2015, Foster says that Kirst returned home with his wife. He proceeded to shout loudly at her. He is believed to have sped away in his car a short while later before returning in the early hours of the morning to bang on the door, resuming his verbal assault on his wife.

Later in 2015, Foster heard Kirst shout “you little f***”, at his child who ran off.

Foster also called the cops after loud music could be heard blaring from the house.

“After the police left, and while my guests were arriving at Camps Bay Villa, [Kirst] uttered various profanities in my direction, made a threat to do me physical harm and slammed the door.

Okay, so this is far worse than the time a man was caught on CCTV flinging poop over a neighbour’s wall in Claremont. 

The final straw for Foster took place in 2018.

“On 5 February 2018, I heard [Kirst] shouting very loudly as I was preparing Camps Bay Villa for the arrival of guests. I became exasperated … and engaged in a verbal exchange with [him].”

“On 29 July 2018, I heard [Kirst] shouting loudly and raising his voice on his driveway. The shouting and swearing continued for some time and was directed at various members of his family, accompanied by revving of motorbikes. This culminated in [Kirst] “threatening to drown his child in the bath”. I found this profoundly shocking.”

The men have taken to recording each other.

Kirst says that he finds it “creepy” that Foster “stands outside his house … and uses his cellphone or other recording devices to record what my kids and me are doing outside”.

Head on over to TimesLIVE for more on the fiasco.

I’ve had some awful neighbours in the past, but it sounds like these two are their respective worst nightmares.

[source:timeslive]