Gerry Duffy, 76, from Hadley Road, Barnet, north London, pleaded guilty at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to damaging a neighbour's pond, fish, water pump and pipes in March. The court heard he used motor oil and detergent to kill the fish after being "driven completely insane" by the noise of a water pump powering his neighbour's fishpond.
Neighbour dispute escalates
Prosecutor Shahid Iftakhar told the court that the "neighbour dispute" resulted in the death of "five or six" of Andreas Ptohides's koi carp and caused approximately £565 worth of damage. Duffy had previously warned Ptohides that he would take action himself if nothing was done about the noise, saying words to the effect of, "if you didn't deal with it, I would".
The prosecution added that Duffy was caught on CCTV having "climbed into the complainant's garden and damaged the water pipes and pumps".
Frustration and lack of sleep
In mitigation, Elliott Stern told the court his client had attempted to resolve the dispute without resorting to killing the fish. Mr Stern said: "The man has been driven completely insane by this noise, he's spoken to the complainant several times. They initially said they would stop the water pump going but then turned around and said that's not good for the fish."
An environmental officer visited the property and informed Duffy he either had to "move or close his window", the court was told. "Out of sheer frustration and lack of sleep, Mr Duffy, out of character, I would say, lost his mind and committed various damages," Mr Stern stated.
Duffy will be sentenced later on Tuesday.
