He wanted to buy second-hand pasture bells for the fences around pastures at his farm in Romania. When that failed, a man from New Amsterdam decided to steal them.
“I am not always in favor of buying something new. I was looking for second-hand meadow clocks via Marktplaats, but no one responded.” A 38-year-old man from New Amsterdam said this to the police judge in Assen on Friday.
For the farm he set up in Romania, he needed meadow bells – or electric fence devices – for the fencing around his meadows. Pasture clocks control the power supply to the fence. When Marktplaats turned out to be unsuccessful, the man stole meadow clocks from fences on, among others, the Wienbargsteeg in Erm, the Boekweitakkers in Dalerveen and the Galgaats in Dalen.
Meadow clock with transmitter
From mid-December last year to mid-January this year, this happened a total of eight times. It always involved one or more meadow clocks and fencing pens. After several reports came in, the police decided to place a meadow clock themselves on Wienbargsteeg in Erm, where the thief had already struck several times.
It was a decoy clock; one with a transmitter in it. When that device was also stolen, the police easily reached the man from New Amsterdam via the transmitter. There in the barn lay all the loot, intended for Romania.
Frustrated
The man told the judge that he would like to live self-sufficiently and that is why he is setting up a farm in Eastern Europe. He spends a large part of the year there with his family, but he also regularly visits the Netherlands. Then he lives in New Amsterdam. “I was here with the kids at the time. I had made all kinds of plans, including the purchase of those meadow clocks, but nothing worked out. That made me frustrated,” he explained the theft.
The judge made no secret of his surprise. “You strike me as a nice man. Isn’t this behavior strange?” “It is very wrong. It really felt that way,” the New Amsterdammer responded.
He was sentenced to 160 hours of community service, 40 of which were suspended. Two victims demanded compensation. The thief must pay them a total of 300 euros.