A 76-year-old man has been handed a two-year conditional discharge after killing up to six koi fish in a neighbour dispute over a water pump noise that 'drove him insane'. Gerry Duffy used motor oil and detergent to kill the fish and cause over £500 worth of damage.
Court hears of bizarre feud
Willesden Magistrates' Court heard on Tuesday (August 4) that Duffy, of Hadley Road, Barnet, north London, was reportedly 'driven completely insane' by the noise of his neighbour's water pump powering the fishpond. He pleaded guilty on the day of his trial to damaging the pond, fish, water pump and pipes back in March.
Duffy had previously warned his neighbour, Andreas Ptohides, that he would take action himself if nothing was done about the noise. Prosecutor Shahid Iftakhar told the court that the 'neighbour dispute' resulted in the death of 'five or six' of Mr Ptohides's koi carp, and potentially caused £565 worth of damage.
Iftakhar said: "The defendant has previously complained to the complainant about noise coming from his garden and has said words to the effect of, 'if you didn't deal with it, I would' – there was a warning before the incident."
CCTV captures incident
The prosecution added that Duffy was caught on CCTV having 'climbed into the complainant's garden and damaged the water pipes and pumps'. 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.
Sentence and compensation
Duffy, who pleaded guilty to three counts of damaging property and one count of unlawfully destroying fish, was handed a two-year conditional discharge. He was also ordered to pay £565 of compensation to Mr Ptohides.
