Neighbour ‘scared to go home’ after court rejects banning order

Asheriff rejected calls for a banning order to separate two feuding neighbours because he feared it would expose one side to “malicious” complaints.

Allison MacKenzie claims she is scared to go home after the court refused to order an injunction against her next door neighbour Rikki Millar.

She wanted non-harassment measures put in place after the pair’s simmering six-year squabble boiled over in a row about a new puppy.

Millar, 38, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court following an altercation at their homes in Belvidere Place, Auchterarder, in May last year.

He admitted a charge of behaving in an aggressive or threatening manner by shouting, swearing and snatching a plant pot from Miss MacKenzie, before throwing it at her partner Michael Rennie, causing it to smash to the ground.

The takeaway owner was fined £400 for the outburst.

Miss MacKenzie’s call for a non-harassment order – to prevent Mr Millar from approaching or contacting her or her partner – was rejected by Sheriff William Wood.

He said it would expose Mr Millar to the threat of “malicious complaint” from his neighbour.

The sheriff told Mr Millar: “Your best bet is just don’t talk to her.”

Mr Millar accepts he “snapped” following a back-and-forth row but he strongly refutes Miss MacKenzie’s claims she is “scared” to come home following the judgment.

He said he has been tormented by his neighbour since he moved into the street in 2015.

Miss MacKenzie, 54, told The Courier: “I’m really disappointed the court has refused this order. I can’t see why they’ve taken this decision.”

The court heard the households had been rowing for years.

Things came to a head during the first months of lockdown when father-oftwo Mr Millar brought home a pet dog. Mr Millar’s solicitor Pauline Cullerton said: “Mr Millar had a new puppy and the neighbours were complaining about it barking.”

A shouting match escalated and Mr Millar confronted Miss MacKenzie and Mr Rennie in their garden, before smashing the plant pot.

Sheriff Wood told Mr Millar: “Clearly this was an unpleasant incident involving your neighbours.

“Whatever your issues, this was not the way to deal with it.”

The court heard Miss MacKenzie had moved out because she “didn’t feel safe where she was”.

Sheriff Wood added: “I’m not satisfied that there is a need for a non-harassment order. It would be putting Mr Millar at risk of a malicious complaint about him.”

Miss MacKenzie said: “I’ve stayed here for 25 years and I’ve never fallen out with any of my neighbours before. I love it here. I’m now staying in Bridge of Earn but I still have to go back to the house now and again to sort out the sale.

“I’m too scared to go back there on my own.”

Miss MacKenzie said she will contact lawyers about a possible appeal.

Mr Millar insisted there is no reason for Miss MacKenzie to feel scared.

He claimed on one occasion his neighbour accused him of drilling holes in his wall to spy on her – something Miss MacKenzie says never happened.

When he opened his new food business, the Hungry Cow on Auchterarder High Street, he received “slanderous” Facebook comments.

FEUD: Allison MacKenzie claims she is scared to go home but Rikki Millar says he has been tormented by his neighbour since 2015.