She released bees on officers claiming it was a “lovely flowering escape,” but details reveal it was her clever technique to protect a cancer patient

House eviction due to the non-payment of mortgage or rent is a situation no one wants to imagine. But sometimes people use quite strange methods to dodge this situation. Speaking of that, following a family who got their Thanksgiving plans destroyed due to a delivery blunder, another strange incident took place in Massachusetts. A beekeeper unleashed her bees to save her cancer patient friend from getting evicted, and she has been sentenced to six months.

According to the Guardian, a beekeeper was convicted of setting swarms of bees on sheriff’s deputies who were attempting an eviction of her elderly friend. Rebecca Woods, who would now face 6 months sentence in prison, said that she set the bees out for fresh air and “lovely, flowering landscape”. But a court in Springfield heard that Rebecca herself acted as a deputy who was there to serve up papers.

Several officers were stung on their heads and faces, and thousands of bees died during the encounter, with many of them crushed when the hives were accidentally overrun by the deputies in distress. Hampden County Sheriff Nick Kochi was shocked to see the footage of the incident, and he reportedly said, “This was unlike anything our team has ever experienced.” Even though Rebecca unleashed the bees on the authorities, she was allegedly adamant about doing this to save an 80-year-old friend from eviction. 

Her lawyer tried to defend her, alleging the incident was a misunderstanding with the authorities, as predatory lenders 

Mary Saldarelli, Rebecca’s lawyer, declared that Rebecca’s response was driven by her own experiences, as she has been evicted multiple times in her life due to predatory lenders. Her lawyer said, “it is a reaction to having your face put down in the pavement and being shoved there and kept there.” She declared that she did this to save people from predatory lenders who charged extortionate rates on non-mainstream mortgages.

The lawyer told the gruesome reality of the eviction, saying that her friend was an 80-year-old man suffering from cancer, who was not even at home at the time of eviction, and, looking at her helplessness, Rebecca released the bees on the evictors. Mary said, “It really was just a sincere hope that he would not suffer the humiliation and devastation of going through an eviction, of losing your home,” But even that explanation of the incident could not save Rebecca from conviction.

After the Crater Lake semi-truck situation involving bees, this is another story where these insects are being talked about. According to Global News, Rebecca has been found guilty of four counts of assault and battery and two counts of reckless assault. She has been sentenced, but she was detained at a hotel for two weeks, so she would now have a credit of 145 days’ sentence. Even though she tried to save her friend from eviction, her sentence could not save him from getting evicted.