Woman's revenge after man's drone sparks fierce neighbours feud

An Australian woman feuding with her neighbour over his alleged "constant drone flying" above her property has taken matters into her own hands, whipping up a cheeky way to infiltrate his hobby.

Queensland resident Bea alleges her neighbour Walter Gebhard regularly flies his drone over her property — an act that she described as a deep invasion of privacy.

Mr Gebhard on the other hand — a navy veteran with PTSD, who recently took up the activity — said he isn't harming anyone, and claims that since Bea moved into the area f she's caused "nothing but dramas". The duo, whom each live on large properties, but say the distance between them isn't big enough, are completely at odds over Mr Gebhard's new favourite pastime.

"I'm 71 now, I just want to live out my life peacefully," Mr Gebhard, who has lived at his property since 1997, told A Current Affair. "Council, police, everyone known to man. She just keeps on me and on me."

Duo were 'never friends'

Both Bea and Mr Gebhard admit they've never been friends, arguing at first over Bea's horses, followed by a dispute over Mr Gebhard's rooster.

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Now, the veteran's newest hobby has seen the tension escalate to new heights.

Bea claims the noise and alleged surveillance is "making her life hell". "He's recording me every afternoon," she claimed. "It's a privacy invasion, noise, harassment, stalking, the lot."

Mr Gebhard, who bought his drone in July, allegedly admitted he's been flying his drone over the neighbourhood every afternoon for months, but maintains he's not spying — simply enjoying his new found love. "I've told my neighbours ... what's going on and they've said 'no problem'," he said.

Bea finds sneaky, 'possibly illegal' solution

But it's one big problem for Bea, and now, she's found a solution.

"The wifi wasn't secure, so yeah, I just logged into the drone and I just went 'go' and bang — I was in," she explained. Bea went on to describe how she managed to hack the drone itself and obtain footage stored on the device. She even managed to figure out how to manually control the drone via a joystick on her phone.

"I can see him stressing out about it through the little hole," Bea said, pointing to a peep hole in her fencing that she uses to look at her neighbour's property from her own.

"I look at him and then watch as the drone goes in the tree," she laughed.

Footage then shows Mr Gebhard's confusion as his drone falls from the sky, due to Bea's sneaky antics from her property. "It's playing up a bit, I don't know what's going on there, it should come back," a stunned Mr Gebhard said as the drone comes crashing down to land. "I've lost wifi signal."

"Little does he know, it's me," a gleeful Bea admits, after witnessing the drone's loss of power.

Lawyer weighs in on debacle

According to one Queensland lawyer, both parties might be in the wrong under the eye of the law. Tom Pils with Macmillan Lawyers and Advisors said a drone "is an aircraft" — making it illegal to tamper with them.

Mr Gebhard said he's "quite happy to work things out", but Bea isn't interested.

"Get him away from my gate, I don't want to see that c**t," she warned.

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