Getting a noise control complaint at your flat is a checkpoint one must pass through before getting on with Kiwi life. In Spain though, one man took it too far and has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for ‘terrorising’ his neighbours over five years by blasting EDM music.
From 2012 - 2017, the bloke frequently played tunes at 57 decibels, over 20 decibels louder than the law allows. He ignored his neighbours’ pleas, visits from the police and even an official warning from the local council.
In court, the dude denied playing music over the legal volume but did admit that the cops had warned him. Due to testaments from witnesses, he was found guilty of a “crime against the Environment”.
“The ‘boom boom’ could not be resisted,” said one witness, as reported by El Diario. “My bones were vibrating”.
Incredible quote aside, the music did real damage to the elderly neighbours. One nearby resident who already suffered from insomnia had to take further “sedative-hypnotic treatment” to fall asleep, and the loud music caused another neighbour’s Alzheimer’s disease to worsen.
“The persistence of his attitude suggests that the defendant was aware this conduct could affect the mental stability of any neighbour because even with minimal social skills one cannot but be aware of it,” the judge said.
As well as a year and three months in jail, the man will have to pay victims 18,000 euros (NZ$32,000) and is banned from working in any EDM-adjacent job.
During a similar incident that went viral last year, one affected neighbour took matters into their own hands by yanking out the power chord.
In a viral TikTok, the man films the festival-like atmosphere and noise going on nearby, before cutting the electricity.
Blasting tunes with your mates is always an incredible time. But once that first (or second) noise control complaint hits, it's time for the silent disco or to move to the next spot.
