A spat between rural neighbours erupted when one took a digger and carved up a driveway during a confrontation. 

North Canterbury farmer Roger O’Byrne drove on to his neighbour’s property during cyclonic rain in February 2022. 

He excavated a large trench across the neighbour’s driveway to enable flood water to flow off his land in an effort to alleviate a threat to his crops. 

His neighbour tried to stop him by standing in front of the approaching digger, but O’Byrne continued to drive towards their driveway and a confrontation ensued. 

O’Byrne, 75, was charged with wilful damage and convicted after a trial in September 2024. 

He was told to pay the neighbour $4200 in reparation and $1000 emotional harm but appealed the reparation order. 

He claimed there was insufficient evidence to support the reparation payment, his neighbour should have had adequate drainage on her property, and she benefited from the repairs so he shouldn’t have had to pay. 

But, the High Court has since dismissed his appeal. 

Roger O'Byrne's neighbour says the incident was "one of the most unnerving experiences of her life". 

O’Byrne is no stranger to neighbourly disputes, having been convicted of threatening to kill another neighbour and discharging a shotgun near that neighbour’s home without reasonable cause, to annoy or frighten him, in 2012. 

In 2008, he faced charges of recklessly firing a rifle after a confrontation with two anglers on his land, which ended with shots being fired. He was acquitted on two charges and a third one was later dropped. 

He was also the subject of an episode of Neighbours at War after a standoff with neighbours. 

The driveway trench 

The February 2022 confrontation was captured on film by O’Byrne’s son. 

Justice Rob Osborne said in a recently released decision that the digging of the trench left the neighbour’s driveway inoperable until urgent repairs were carried out the next day, resulting in an invoice of $1100. 

Two weeks after the incident, O’Byrne issued an invoice to the neighbour in which he purported to charge her $210 for two hours’ work with his digger. 

Subsequently, the victim needed further permanent repairs on the driveway, resulting in an invoice of $3100. 

The 65-year-old neighbour described in a victim impact statement her ongoing anxiety caused by the “large digger being relentlessly driven towards her”, saying O’Byrne appeared to her as an “implacable and hostile driver”. 

She watched as O’Byrne destroyed part of her driveway and swept away the fences on either side, saying the incident was “one of the most unnerving experiences” of her life. 

O’Byrne’s lawyer said the $4200 figure - the cost of making her driveway accessible and then the permanent repair - was unrelated to the task of refilling the trench. 

The invoices indicated the contractor was involved in obtaining and installing new pipes, an expense which involved betterment, not caused by the offending. 

O’Byrne gave evidence at the trial that he had left the original pipes untouched — they were further along the driveway from the area excavated. 

The incident was captured on film by Roger O'Byrne's son. 

O’Byrne submitted a letter from “Nigel Winter Excavation” which stated he had asked for a quote on a job on a neighbour’s driveway. 

From the examination, the job would take “30 minutes at most”. 

With a charge-out rate of $150 per hour plus GST the cost of pushing about two cubic metres of fill back into the trench would be $86.25. 

Signage at the gate to Roger O'Byrne's land in North Canterbury. Photo/Al Williams 

No reference was made to replacing shingle over the driveway, a category of cost that accounted for more than half the neighbour’s $4200 invoice. 

Justice Osborne considered the letter and viewed it as not meeting the threshold of credibility and cogency. 

“The victim in this case has established in the District Court both the presence and quantum of her costs; Mr O’Byrne did not appropriately establish an element of betterment within that quantum. 

“Mr O’Byrne has not established the Judge erred in setting the amount of reparation in the sums ordered.” 

The appeal was dismissed. 

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.