‘I FEEL LIKE AN ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL IN MY OWN HOME’

A WOMAN who has been told she must stop smoking on the balcony of her Surfers Paradise unit or face being taken to court says she has been made to “feel like an absolute criminal” in her own home.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she smoked to “relax and de-stress”, but was no longer able to enjoy the unit she splashed out six figures for 16 months ago.

“I smoke on the odd occasion. I’m trying to cut down,” the woman said.

“On the odd occasion I would sit outside on a nice morning and have a cigarette. But I mainly smoke in my unit with my doors open.

“It makes me annoyed that my rights to do what I want to do on my property are being dictated to.

“It annoys me because I pay my bills, pay the rates, and I’m being dictated to about what I can do in my own home.”

The woman said she moved to the property to enjoy a “more relaxing, quiet, stress-free, laid-back life” after a number of break-ins and assaults where she previously lived.

“I’m disabled, I can’t move very well. I have a disability sticker on my car,” she said.

“There were too many break-ins and assaults in the area and I thought, for safety reasons, and I wanted to be a bit closer to my friends, I’d move into an apartment building where nobody could get to me, for safety, for security.”

The woman said she was unhappy with the suggestion she should keep her windows and doors shut when smoking. “I want to keep them (windows) open, just like everybody else,” she said.

“I feel like an absolute criminal, especially in my own home.”