Barking leads to restraining order for neighbour
An elderly man who harassed and threatened a neighbour over her dogs, which he claimed kept him awake, has been ordered by a court to stay away from her for five years.
The man, whose identity is suppressed, had been living on the Napier street with his wife since 2003.
Six years ago a mother and her young child moved into a house across the road from the couple. They have two dogs.
After three years the man began claiming the dogs were barking and preventing him from sleeping.
He complained to Napier City Council, which carried out a survey of other residents and decided not to take any further action.
In mid-2016 the man confronted the woman as she loaded her car. He spoke about the dogs’ ‘‘mindless barking’’. The woman asked him to text her next time they barked.
The following month he texted her at 4.47am saying the barking had kept him up and ‘‘hopefully this wakes you just as [one of the dogs] woke me’’.
The next day he handed her a letter that said the street ‘‘does not have a dog problem, it has a dog owner problem, and fixing that is long overdue’’.
He said if the situation wasn’t fixed ‘‘forthwith’’, he would escalate the matter to the council, SPCA and other neighbours.
This prompted the woman to have her lawyer send the man a letter requesting that he cease contacting her or she would apply for a restraining order under the Harassment Act.
The man responded with a letter from his own lawyer, listing all the times and dates he said the dogs had barked and suggesting they be fitted with ultrasonic anti-bark devices.
In March 2017 he complained to the council again.
The council told him the woman had met her obligations and it would take no further action.
Eight months later he hand-delivered another note. This one said that if the barking continued he would buy a handheld megaphone and if the dogs woke him again he’d use it at full volume from the woman’s gate.
A few days another note.
‘‘You are now fully in megaphone territory and will be advised at FULL volume, from your gate, your name, address, and a advisory of the times they have barked.’’
In May last year the man approached her outside her gate and abused her. The police charged the man with intimidation. He responded by putting a post on social media complaining about the situation.
In June he crossed a road and walked directly toward the woman as she held her baby. He turned away when he was within 2 metres of her.
Then the man contacted police with various complaints. This led to him facing a second charge of intimidation.
By October last year the woman had had enough and went to Napier District Court where she was granted a restraining order against the man, barring him from contacting her for five years.
The man appealed the order. In the High Court at Napier this month, he argued that the order shouldn’t have been made as his actions were justified.
Justice Francis Cooke this week ruled that the order was justified in order to protect the woman from further harassment and that five years was an appropriate length of time.
He dismissed the appeal and awarded costs to the woman, on top of those already awarded to her at the district court hearing.
‘‘You are now fully in megaphone territory and will be advised at FULL volume, from your gate, your name, address, and a advisory of the times they have barked.’’
Note from angry neighbour
later he hand-delivered