Man fined £10K for cutting neighbour's trees for better view facing £800K bill

28 February 2024 , 08:38

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Samih Shinway was stunned to find his neighbour had cut down his trees (Image: CNN)

A homeowner who was slapped with a £10,000 bill for cutting down dozens of his neighbour's trees after he "wanted a better view" now faces a whopping £800k fine.

Grant Haber, a New Jersey CEO, cut down 32 of his next-door neighbour's trees to improve his view of New York City from his mansion. However, he requires a permit before removing trees and was accused of hiring individuals to cut down dozens of trees on his neighbour Samih Shinway's property. Haber initially cut a plea deal for violating local legislation in the town of Kinnelon and faced a £25,000 bill but it was later cut down to around £10,000.

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32 trees were cut at the neighbour's property (CNN)

But now he faces a whopping fee of nearly £1million after the borough's prosecution said he may have to foot the bill for replacing the downed trees.

"We're certainly dealing with substantial penalties,' Kim Kassar said in October. "But those pale in comparison to the potential restitution claims, which are approaching or may exceed seven figures."

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Haver, a security CEO for an ant-terrorism company, has been criticised by his neighbour who admitted he will never be "100 per cent satisfied with the sanctions."

The CEO claims he cut them down to 'improve his view' from his mansion (CNN)

"I always use the analogy that if you hire someone to put a hit out on somebody, they are just as liable as the person who did it,' Shinway told The Record.

Haber told the court he would pay the fine of £10,000 within the next 30 days and now faces restitution hearings at the county level. The next hearing is set for April 19. The neighbour was left stunned last year after he arrived home to discover a team removing trees from his property.

Harber's mansion is surrounded by trees (New York Post)

Shinway said: "When I came home on February 27 I heard chainsaws and I drove my 4-wheeler to see where the noise was coming from. I saw a tree shredder and four men on my property and they were on my cousin's property too. Haber tried to act like it was a big mix-up. The workers right away blamed him & he denied everything and told them all to leave.

Grant Haber faces a whopping fine (Youtube/One America News Network)

"Haber came out and said 'isn't this a disaster? Who would do this?'. Ever since he cut the trees down there's been lots of crows and Soil erosion. When I was outback with the forester he let his two dogs out and they were harassing us. He was yelling for the dogs from 50 feet away but wouldn't actually come get them. ' letter was dropped in our mailbox that was typed and unsigned saying he's not a bad neighbour and he moved here because he loves nature. Otherwise, he's had nothing to say."

Haber eventually sold his home last November for £1.2 million, which is a staggering £500,000 more than what he paid for in 2014.

Liam Buckler