Man, 44, ‘a pest and neighbour from hell’

A RETIRED psychiatric nurse manager told Sligo District Court how he was repeatedly threatened and verbally abused by a “neighbour from hell”.

John Reid told the court that Fran Clancy, 44, who lived directly opposite him in Yeats Heights, Ballytivnan, had said he would “cut my throat”. Mr Reid said the defendant had also spat at him and called his partner a “bitch”. The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge that he used threatening and abusive behaviour at Yeats Heights on January 6, 2020.

Judge Kevin Kilrane told the witness that it had been suggested at a previous sitting, where Mr Reid was not present, that Mr Reid was provoking the defendant and that he just wanted him out of the estate.

The suggestion was that Mr Reid should be more understanding of Mr Clancy.

The witness told the court he was a retired psychiatric nurse and had been living in the area for three years, and did not know the defendant.

He said the abuse had been going on for the past 18 months. The defendant lived opposite the witness and his behaviour had got more aggressive as time went on. The witness said he had written to the HSE, which pays the defendant’s rent, to the Residential Tenant’s Board, to local representatives, and to the landlord, and all to no avail. “The HSE has turned a blind eye to my complaints,” he claimed.

Sergeant Derek Butler suggested to the witness that the defendant had been living there for some years but matters had got worse in the past 18 months. The sergeant asked the witness why this was so.

The witness said that people had already left the estate because of the defendant’s behaviour.

The witness rejected a suggestion from defence solicitor

Edmund Henry that Clancy’s landlord had stated that John Reid may have been “the cause of Fran Clancy’s aggressive behaviour” by gesturing to him and “aggravating” him.

The witness said that was incorrect as his training as a psychiatric nurse told him not to engage with aggressive behaviour.

The witness added that last November 6 the defendant told him he would smash his head against the wall, and he threw cigarettes at his car. “That is what I am living with,” he said.

The verbal abuse was continuous, the court heard.

Sergeant Butler told the court that other residents had also made complaints to the gardaí. Defence solicitor Edmund Henry said the defendant had a speech impediment and had difficulties expressing himself.

The judge said: “Well he has no difficulty in expressing himself to Mr Reid.”

Judge Kilrane said that while the defendant had problems, and the HSE was paying his rent, Mr Reid was entitled to live in peace. He said: “From now on, you will be monitored by the court and if convicted in the future, you will go to jail, if this level of filthy abuse continues. Leave the man alone. “I don’t blame him trying to get rid of you as you are causing all sorts of problems to Mr Reid and others. You will go to jail, and you will go for a long time. You understand the difference between right and wrong.”

The judge said there should be no criticism of Mr Reid, who was living beside a “pest and a neighbour from hell, a bad neighbour.’ Judge Kilrane remanded the defendant on continuing bail until February 25 with liberty to re-enter.

The judge said: “He has problems, but I can’t have him spreading those problems and destroying the lives of others in the area.”