Developer sprayed poison in another’s face

Residents in a plush Queenstown neighbourhood are leaving their properties to get away from a neighbour who sprayed poison in another’s face.

Developer Alistair Hey, 57, last week received his second conviction for assaulting a neighbour in Hensman Rd, on Queenstown Hill.

He was sentenced to 70 hours’ community work and ordered to pay emotional harm reparation of $1500 in the Invercargill District Court for assaulting Tim Clark by spraying weedkiller into his face on September 14.

This follows a conviction in January last year for assaulting then 71-year-old neighbour Geoffrey Hamilton and intentionally damaging a BMW vehicle.

Hamilton has since moved to Australia and another former neighbour, Frank Schreiber, has moved his family to Ireland.

Clark said he was moving away from the neighbourhood, a decision partly triggered by Hey.

He said he had made several complaints to noise control in Queenstown after Hey had loud music playing on his garage stereo.

The noise problem came to a head on September 14 when he came home to find his wife nearly in tears because bass music had been playing loudly for two days.

‘‘I called the council number and they sent an Armourguard guy to listen at seven or eight in the morning,’’ Clark said.

‘‘He noted that it was on and it was annoying and objectionable but Alistair wasn’t there. He wasn’t even in the house.

‘‘About 5pm in the afternoon I saw his garage door was open. I walked out and he was at the top of the access road with the spray bottle.’’

Clark said he asked Hey three times to turn the music off .

‘‘He wouldn’t acknowledge me and just turned his back to me and walked away.’’

After the third attempt Hey sprayed him in the face. The men ended up in a tussle until Clark’s son came to help.

Schreiber said his problems with Hey started over access to a shared right-of-way.

After he gave evidence during Hey’s first trial, it got worse.

‘‘At that point my life turned to hell. We never had a peaceful day.’’

Schreiber installed cameras on his property as protection. They recorded the assault on Clark.

‘‘I still own that property and we still feel like we’re Queenstowners but my children didn’t want to live there anymore,’’ Schreiber said. ‘‘They didn’t feel safe there.’’ Hey denied most of the accusations and said they didn’t bother him.

‘‘The trouble is in life if you become a bit successful you just become a target.’’