Fur and paint fly as cat tiff turns ugly
Ballito residents lawyer up as tit-for-tat tactics escalate
● A spat between neighbours sparked by roaming cats has degenerated into criminal complaints and midnight vandalism.
A cat enclosure, a loudspeaker blasting high-frequency noise throughout the night and CCTV footage showing a woman in a nightie throwing paint into a driveway are among the incidents that have unfolded in the feud between two families in the upmarket seaside town of Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal.
The saga started when a cat belonging to Catherine and Sean Finlay escaped, prompting them to build an enclosure for their five felines.
Their neighbours Fiona and Gray Bowden then complained to the municipality about the illegal structure, prompting a counter municipal complaint by the Finlays that the Bowdens, who are marriage officers, were using their private property as a venue for small weddings.
The Finlays said the Bowdens then set up a large speaker against the boundary wall, allegedly blasting loud high-frequency noise throughout the night, which the Finlays said deeply distressed their autistic daughter.
A lawyer’s letter demanding the Bowdens “cease and desist” put a temporary stop to the racket, but it resumed last Friday night.
Hours later, CCTV caught a woman, barefoot and in her nightie, flinging two packets filled with paint into the Bowdens’ yard in the early hours of last Saturday morning.
On Thursday, the Finlays approached the KwaDukuza magistrate’s court for relief under the Protection from Harassment Act.
“The court has issued them with a notice to appear before it and the papers have gone to the police for service on the Bowdens,” said the Finlays’ lawyer, Ashleigh Cranke.
The Finlays said they built the structure after their cat was struck after it escaped while contractors were on site fixing their airconditioning.
“When our clients were having their airconditioning unit serviced, a contractor left the front door open and their cat got out of the house. The Bowdens then trapped their family cat in a cage and delivered it to the SPCA Durban as a stray cat,” said Cranke.
They said the Bowdens had agreed to the structure but then lodged a formal complaint with the KwaDukuza municipality, stating it was unlawful.
“The municipality attended the property and asked the Finlays to file the plans of the enclosure with the municipality for approval. The municipal approval was sent to the Bowdens,” said Cranke. A complaint was then lodged against the Bowdens for using their property for small weddings.
“The Bowdens then began directing a speaker at the Finlays’ boundary wall and playing high-frequency sound directly into their property at high volume,” Cranke said.
“The Finlays’ daughter has autism and sensory sensitivities and is severely affected by this sound. This was explained to the Bowdens on several occasions, who persisted with this behaviour and advised that if they moved the cat enclosure they would ‘fix the pesky speaker’.
“A cease and desist letter was sent to the Bowdens in May and things seemed to quiet down. On October 14, this speaker began playing again and police attended the premises and issued them with a warning to turn the speaker off. The speaker was not turned off and the sound played throughout the night, leaving their daughter hysterical and inconsolable,” Cranke said.
The paint incident took place hours later. The Bowdens’ attorney, Alistair Janssens, said it was impossible to respond to the allegations within the Sunday Times deadline due to his court obligations, but said “no justification exists for the conduct as seen on the video”.
Janssens denied all claims against the Bowdens, saying they were “no doubt raised to justify the unconscionable act of throwing paint on to a neighbour’s property”.
“My client shall obviously seek personal protection from this harassment and claim damages for the repairs required for the paving, they [the Finlays] having already attended to pay a contractor to clean up, but which has caused what appears permanent damage to the pavers on the driveway.”
Janssens said the matter of operating a business from the residence was being dealt with directly with the municipality.
KwaDukuza municipal spokesperson Sipho Mkhize confirmed that a structure built on the Finlays’ property was approved once the property owner submitted building plans. He said the Bowdens’ property was operating a wedding venue, which is not permitted in terms of the property zoning.
“Several contravention notices were issued, but, unfortunately, the owner has not complied. On September 1, the municipality enlisted this property for illegal use. The municipality has also implemented the illegal use rate coding, which is a punitive charge in terms of the council’s rate policy.
“The owners will be paying a punitive rate which is five times more than their property rates. If there is further noncompliance, the municipality will opt for other legal mechanisms to stop this illegal use,” Mkhize said.
Several contravention notices were issued but, unfortunately, the owner has not complied Sipho Mkhize, KwaDukuza municipal spokesperson