Man fined after argument with neighbour over trash bags

A 43-year-old man was fined $1,000 today after he punched his neighbour during an argument over trash.

Charles Cope of Southampton got into an argument with his neighbour’s boyfriend on January 31 over where trash is supposed to be put out for collection.

Crown counsel Larissa Burgess told the court just after 5pm that day, Donald Kenton was at his girlfriend’s Southampton home when he went to Cope’s home to return a bag of trash that was on their property.

The court heard there had been an ongoing dispute between Cope and Mr Kenton’s girlfriend regarding trash.

When Mr Kenton approached Cope, Cope said: “I’m sick of your bulls**t over this trash” and punched him on the left jaw.

Ms Burgess said Mr Kenton became unsteady on his feet and “tasted” blood in his mouth. His jaw also became swollen.

Expatriate Cope attended the Somerset Police Station in March and was arrested for the offence.

While Cope pleaded guilty, he disagreed with the version of events put before the court.

He admitted there had been an ongoing dispute between himself and Mr Kenton regarding where to put the trash for collecting, including a few days before the incident when the complainant came knocking on his door.

“He told me trash was only to be put out in large trash bins. I told him I would purchase a large trash bin.

“I introduced myself and he shook my hand and he left.”

Cope said the day in question, he had just gotten home and was changing his clothing when he saw Mr Kenton at his gate, throwing a blue trash bag at the entrance.

“I went outside and he shouted, ‘I already f**king told you what to do. If you don’t do what I said, I’m going to make you start putting trash on the road’.”

Cope said he told the complainant that he doesn’t use blue trash bags.

“The gentleman took a fighting stance and said to me ‘come on motherf****r’. At that point, I had to make a decision.

“He was going to punch me, so I lashed out and hit him on the left side. He then went up the driveway and said he was going to get the police.”

Cope told the court he waited at his home for the police to come but they never did. A few days later, his home was broken into and when police arrived, they asked if he had upset anyone recently.

The court heard the defendant gave police a full account of what had happened a few days before but he wasn’t arrested.

He also said at the time of the incident, he was standing at the top of a flight of stairs and was sure Mr Kenton was going to push him down, so he decided to act first.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo gave Cope a $1,000 fine and said: “This is an act of violence. That’s not the way disputes are supposed to be settled.

“Violence is a problem in this community. In that regard, a conditional discharge is not in the public interest.”