Man ‘hit with leaf blower’ in boundary ditch row
Pensioner accused of GBH after tussle over ownership rights left neighbour with broken nose and eye socket
A PENSIONER has appeared in court following a dispute with a neighbour during which he was accused of hitting him in the face with a leaf blower.
Peter Smythe, 73, clashed with Nigel Clark, 63, a company director, following a row over a boundary ditch between their homes in Tolleshunt D’arcy, near Tiptree in Essex.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the pair allegedly grappled on the ground when the “typical neighbour dispute” escalated last July.
Mr Smythe, a former building sites manager, was charged with grievous bodily harm, after allegedly fracturing his neighbour’s nose and eye socket when he hit him with the garden leaf blower.
Prosecutor William Martin said it all began because the pair could not agree on who owned a narrow ditch between their homes. He said on July 4 last year Mr Smythe had been working in his garden when he saw his neighbour and had approached him to discuss the dispute.
But he said when Mr Clark walked away, the older man had challenged him. Mr Clark told the court: “He said, ‘Don’t you walk away from me’. As I turned round I was struck with the leaf blower to the head. I was struck diagonally across the face. It fractured my eye socket.”
But Mr Smythe, who arrived at court on crutches, insisted it was his neighbour who had been aggressive towards him.
He told the jury that on the day of the alleged attack Mr Clark greeted him and that he had replied: “I’m pleased we have bumped into each other. I would like to discuss the boundary ditch situation.”
He said they had exchanged words and things had escalated quickly. Mr Smythe told the court: “I was close enough for him to throw a punch with his right hand and hit me on the left side of my face. He has got a good swing – he plays golf. “He knocked me on the floor, that punch knocked me for six. He kicked me when I was on the ground and lost his shoe in the process.
“I got up. I had the blower between us. He pulled the nozzle off and prodded me with it in the chest, saying ‘C’mon then’.” Mr Smythe said they both ended up rolling around “like a couple of kids” with the engine part of the blower between them. Asked about the injuries to Mr Clark’s face, he said he believed he had sustained the wounds when he had fallen during the tussle.
Mr Smythe’s son, Ashley, told the court he had arrived home to see his father and Mr Clark standing in the road.
He continued: “It raised alarm bells with me because Nigel was pointing to my father very angrily, aggressively, finger pointing and jabbing towards my father.”
He said as he parked his van he lost sight of the two men for a moment but the next time he saw them, his father was on the ground.
He told the court: “My father was lying on his back in what I can only describe as a defensive position. It looked as if he was defending himself, putting his hands up around his head. Nigel had my father pinned down to the ground. He was on his knees. He was on top of my father.”
During cross-examination, Mr Clark denied being verbally aggressive towards his neighbour and said he had not punched him.
He further denied “sticking the boot in” and refuted the claim that they had both been grappling on the ground.
Mr Smythe denies the charge and the trial continues.
‘He pulled the nozzle off and prodded me with it in the chest, saying “C’mon then”’