Octogenarians are "Neighbours from Hell"
The Ghent appeal court has handed down stiffer sentences to the couple of octogenarians held responsible for terrorising an entire neighbourhood in the town of Ninove. The octogenarians have now received a seven months' suspended sentence up from three months suspended.
The couple was taken to court after being a nuisance for years on end. They chased local kids with a fork, played their radio too loudly, pulled their shutters up and down endlessly, and banged manhole covers at all hours.
The couple's defence counsel argued that all these things were minor offences and that the couple didn't set out to cause a nuisance.
Neighbours alleged that it was the combination of everything that constituted the disturbance. In the event a whole group of local residents took the matter to court. The octogenarians went to appeal but the appeal court judge accepted that the facts were proved and he imposed a seven months' sentence suspended for five years.