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A gruelling neighbour’s dispute has finally come to some sort of end after the harassed neighbour slapped the accused with his hefty R1,8 bill of legal fees accumulated over the years.

The two neighbours of Cape Town’s affluent suburb, Camps Bay, have apparently been hashing it out for nine years now, with resident Trevor Forster (69) accusing Clem Kirst (52) of various annoyances and inconveniences.

The offences pitted against Kirst range from shining bright lights into Forster’s bedrooms, shouting, finger-pointing, and even causing Forster to suffer a heart attack.

It got to a point where Forster took legal action against Kirst, allowing him to be granted an interim nuisance interdict, which was unsuccessfully rescinded by Kirst in 2020.

Now, Kirst has to pay for all the legal fees that were racked up over the years. While Cape Town ETC reports a nine-year-long feud, there are references to the court battle beginning in 2018, in which case it would be around six years. However, there is a chance that there were other legal hits prior.

Despite the court ruling that Kirst must pay Forster’s legal fees, which date back to 2018, Kirst has not made any payments. Kirst claimed to have no income, but the court found that he had ‘deceptive and ulterior motives.’

TimesLive reported that a financial investigation was carried out by the court to determine whether Kirst was able to cover the legal costs resulting from his loss in a high court case in 2018.

Kirst was accused of trying to dodge the payments by arguing that he was financially strapped, but magistrate Eric Nogilana pointed out that he drives a luxury car and frequently takes trips abroad:

Magistrate Nogilana expressed his scepticism towards Kirst’s claim of using his ex-wife’s Mercedes-Benz ML, pointing out that Kirst sometimes referred to her as his wife, not ex-wife. The magistrate found many aspects of Kirst’s testimony perplexing.

Magistrate Nogilana said, ‘It remains a so-called mystery as to [Kirst’s] use of the vehicle. When the question was put to the debtor as to why he always uses the car, the debtor says “she allows him to use it”. I find myself baffled. It is used too many times.’

Kirst also tried to make the claim that he had shut down his bank accounts, but again the evidence pointed elsewhere:

‘There were trips taken over the time funded by the [Kirst’s] wife who resides with [Kirst] and various cars of expensive value, and food and clothes which was provided for by kind-hearted people and various other explanations.’

‘I believe it is designed for his own convenience. It is worth mentioning the debtor has been a difficult witness, with a sense of deception and recognisable sense of sacrosanct and being sarcastic,’ said Magistrate Nogilana.

Vet your neighbours, folks, nobody wants a Kirst living next door.

Kirst has 60 days to follow the high court’s order and pay the R1,8 million, while the neighbours will appear in court again on April 11 for it to be decided if the interim protection order issued against Kirst should be upgraded to a permanent one.

[source:capetownetc]