A Macedonian court has convicted a bear of theft and criminal damage for stealing honey from a beekeeper.

The irate beekeeper initially fought off the attacks with thumping 'turbo-folk' music.

Zoran Kiseloski said he tried to distract the bear with lights and music because he had heard bears are afraid of that.

Mr Kiseloski bought a generator, lit up the area and put on songs of (Serbian 'turbo-folk' star) Ceca.

The bear stayed away for a few weeks, but came back when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent.

A court in the city of Bitola found the bear guilty, and since it had no owner and belonged to a protected species, ordered the state to pay the 140,000 denars (€2,243) damage it caused to the hives.

The bear vs the beekeeper took a year in court to decide.

The whereabouts of the bear remain unknown.