A man stabbed his neighbour in the arm with a drill during a dispute over his ability to fix his own fence, a court heard.
On 28 June whilst furloughed from work as a garage maintenance engineer due to the coronavirus pandemic, Shaun Goddard, 47, was fixing his garden fence that he had previously broken by accident.
His next-door-neighbour Charlotte Watts entered her garden and spoke to him about the fence – and that conversation soon became an argument when she accused him of breaking the fence further, rather than fixing it.
Goddard, of Rawlins Road, Pewsey, became aggressive towards her, issuing obscenities. He told her “it’s my f***ng fence so f*** off”, adding “go f*** yourself you miserable c***”.
As a result, Mrs Watts began recording the altercation on her iPad and when they ran out of battery after a short time, she went inside and emerged with her mobile phone – again, recording the argument.
The court heard how Mrs Watts, and her husband who had joined in soon after, had been goading Goddard into the altercation.
Her husband began throwing punches through the fence. Goddard is said to have acted in self-defence, pushing the drill he was holding through said fence, stabbing Mrs Watts in the arm.
She suffered a cut that required hospital treatment – namely four stitches.
The Crown Prosecution Service accepted he had acted in self-defence, but called it ‘excessive’. He was charged with actual bodily harm (ABH), an offence he admitted at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 3 March.
The court heard that the neighbours had lived side-by-side with no issue prior to the coronavirus lockdown. Tensions had been building since Goddard accidentally damaged his fence whilst repairing his shed. The neighbours accused him of criminal damage to the fence – which he owns, paid for and is responsible for.
District judge Joanna Dickens agreed that Mrs Watts and her husband “have behaved inappropriately towards you” when he told her they had been standing on their driveway waving him off to court with smiles on their faces on the morning of the hearing.
On hearing that Goodard had no previous convictions, she sentenced him to 80 hours unpaid work to be completed within 12 months. He was also ordered to pay compensation of £200 and 85 costs.
