Dog dispute leads to £500 assault fine

Saturday 21 July 2018

A 49-year-old man has been fined £500 by the Magistrate's Court for assaulting his neighbour, after a dispute involving his dog barking escalated after weeks of tension.

Nigel William Scowen apologised for his actions with his advocate explaining he had suffered from a momentary loss of control.

He appeared in Court yesterday facing one charge of common assault to which he pleaded guilty.

Legal adviser Chris Baglin told the Court that there had been on-going tension between Scowen and his neighbour since the latter had complained to the managers of the estate about Scowen's dog barking. He said the matters came to a head just before 12:00 on 1 April and were caught on CCTV from a distance. As Scowen and his neighbour came together in a doorway, they exchanged words. The victim then pushed Scowen who reacted by throwing punches.

Scowen's advocate described the incident as "unfortunate." "They have had issues with each other in relation to the dog barking which was dealt with by the management company," she explained. "On the day of the incident they still had residual tension about how it was handled." 

She said the assault was completely out of character for Scowen. "The matters quickly escalated and Mr Scowen felt threatened," she explained before admitting his reaction might have been disproportionate. She added it was done in the heat of the moment and that Scowen had no intention to hurt his victim.

The advocate said Scowen was of good character and acted as the main carer for his wife, who suffers from a condition which sometimes leaves her debilitated. She also explained that shortly before the incident, Scowen had learned of a serious family illness which had been extremely distressing for him.

"While this does not excuse his actions, it goes some way to explain why his actions were so out of character on the day," she told the Court.

She assured the Court it was a one-off unfortunate incident and said it was lucky the victim did not suffer significant injury. "Mr Scowen only intended to defend himself," she said. "Unfortunately he suffered from a momentary loss of control."

Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu fined Scowen £500.