Angry landlord to appeal

A houseboat tycoon who was found guilty of assaulting a tenant after chasing after him with a roofer’s tool is appealing against his conviction.

Myck Djurberg, 60, was in dispute with Klaus Beversluis, 52, over the rental at the Hampton Riviera Boat Yard in Richmond.

Mr Beversluis had rented mooring space for five years before Djurberg demanded more cash for ‘additional and unwarranted’ charges.

The landlord was said to have assaulted his disgruntled tenant after he went to the office to discuss the surprise charges on 8 May last year.

Djurberg failed to attend trial at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court in February and was convicted in his absence despite his lawyer arguing that the tenant was ’trespassing’.

IT consultant Mr Beversluis had told magistrates’ at the trial last month: ‘I basically said we would vacate the premises if he had refunded everything we had pre-paid.

‘I offered to vacate immediately, he said no and started trying to evict us.

‘He tried to get another £5,500 out of us by charging extra service charges which were not due at all.

‘I decided to go to the office to speak to Mr Djuberg and re-affirm the email I sent previously that we would vacate if he refunded our pre-paid moorings.

‘My partner Natasha Knight suggested I take a witness with me to see Mr Djuberg to corroborate the dialogue we were about to have, but I have a clip-on body camera.

‘When I went to the office I knocked then entered and said ‘hello mate’. He was sat at his desk.

‘The second I came in he leapt up from behind his desk and almost ran towards me. He shouted ‘get out of here, get out of here’ at me.

‘I said ‘I’m not getting out’ because I wanted clarify the matter.

‘He came up towards me and grabbed what was near him which was some heavy-duty orange and khaki gardening gloves.

‘He raised them towards me and hit me at the back of my head. I have bruise as I was turning to get out of the way.

‘He raised the gloves above his left shoulder. As I was moving away he swung at me with a backhand, he hit me across the back of his head. It was as hard as he could hit me.’

The body-worn footage, shown to the court, shows the defendant’s friend Mattas Sultan appear as the witness is chased out of the office.

Djurberg, of The Chalet, Hampton Court Riviera, Hampton Court Road, Molesey, Surrey, denied but was convicted of assault by beating and using threatening words and behaviour with the intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence.

His one day appeal will be heard at Kingston Crown Court on 16 July this year.