There is no genre of news story more invigorating than the neighbour dispute gone out of control. Nothing is more inspiring than a story about a fencing dispute which elevated right up to an attempted murder.
Today’s exciting entry comes with the added bonus of being set entirely on a one kilometre wide island off Pittwater in Sydney‘s northern beaches. Scotland Island is a tiny municipality inhabited by approximately 1000 residents, and can only be accessed via boat. You can see it in the top left of this image:
Now, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Judge Judith Gibson has alerted the state’s Police Commissioner of “rising tensions” on the island between two neighbours, which she claims have “escalated out of all proportion”.
The long-running legal feud is between Nader Mohareb and his neighbours Matthew and Annette Palmer, which all spawned from a 2014 defamation case lodged by Mr Mohareb over a Facebook post Mr Palmer allegedly made regarding anonymous posters of Mr Mohareb’s King Charles spaniels. The dog is pictured here:
Source: Facebook.
This one case has led to numerous others – including one about a deleted Facebook apology – and increased hostilities on the tiny island. Because it’s such a small island, and everyone shares public facilities like the roads and ferry, Judge Gibson stated that the police might need to be involved to ensure that this dispute doesn’t cause dramas for everyone else.
She asked whether police might stick their necks in “to ensure that the residents of Scotland Island can use public facilities such as the roads, car park and ferry without impediment”. She also said she was pretty concerned about Mr Mohareb’s statements that these disputes are “a matter of life and death” for him.
Judge Gibson acknowledged that the situation is simply not getting any better on its own, and that the whole island is affected by it.
This litigation is not resolving anything; the situation is simply getting worse. Island is a small, isolated community of families with children who all have to use the same public facilities for travel and activities outside the home.
A spokesperson for the SMH told the SMH that they’re across it:
Police are aware of the judge’s comments and will work with community members on Scotland Island to help resolve any potential conflict.
For the record – as in all good neighbourly disputes – the judge also stated that both men are largely to blame for the unbelievable escalation in hostility, and the mere fact she has reported it to the literal top police officer in the state is not actually a suggestion that either party is more to blame.
Beautiful. You can see the embers of basically an entire island-wide dispute every time your old man got furious about the damn neighbours and their ridiculous bloody assertions regarding the exact position of the boundary in relation to the two properties.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo:
