A MAN accused of pushing his neighbour to the ground after the neighbour was alleged to have upset the man's daughter has been convicted of common assault and intimidation.
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James Paul Yarker, 39, of Pepper Street, Rockley, appeared before Bathurst Local Court on June 7, 2023 charged with common assault and stalk or intimidate following an incident in Rockley in May.
He was convicted on both charges and placed on an 18-month community release order.
Yarker appeared in person and unrepresented before visiting Magistrate Rabbidge.
"You're a 39-year-old before the court, a man of good character, and the police facts allege 27 complaints? What's going on?" Mr Rabbidge asked.
"There's a lot of bickering with my neighbours," Yarker replied, adding the charges stemmed from an incident involving his daughter.
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Yarker said that on the day of the assault, his daughter came home and was scared. Yarker alleged in court his daughter told him that the victim in the matter had sped up, swerved towards her in his car and then stuck up his middle finger at her.
"She was scared. She had to move quickly out of the way," Yarker said.
"I was angry. Generally, I think I'm a calm person, a mature person, but that day I was upset.
"I did yell. My daughter was upset and it was an extension of that."
Police documents handed to the court said the victim in the matter had just returned home in his vehicle from Bathurst at about 12.45pm on May 20, 2023 when he stopped to open his gate and drive on to his property.
Having driven on to the property, he said he stopped the vehicle again so he could close the gate.
Walking back to the gate, the victim was approached from behind by Yarker, according to the police documents.
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The victim was pushed to the ground by Yarker, falling on the gravel in his driveway.
According to the police documents, the victim was shocked and surprised about being knocked to the ground and looked up to see Yarker standing over him, looking enraged.
The victim said he thought he was going to be punched or kicked by Yarker.
According to the police documents, Yarker was asked by the victim why he had done that and Yarker accused the victim of giving his daughter the middle finger in a rude gesture.
The victim said he would never do that to any child, according to the police documents.
The victim got to his feet and Yarker stood close to him, pointed at his chest area and threatened to break the victim's legs.
The victim's wife came out of the house and demanded Yarker leave the property, saying she was calling the police.
According to the police documents, Yarker said the police were half an hour away.
The victim's wife went back into the house and called triple-0.
Yarker told the victim he would break the victim's legs and repeatedly threatened to kill him, according to the police documents, then walked off the victim's property via the open gate and back out on to the street.
The victim said he was shutting the gate behind him and was attempting to clip the gate with the chain when Yarker walked back towards the gate, grabbed hold of the chain and began to shake it.
Yarker said the chain wouldn't stop him from coming in, according to the police documents.
Police arrived a short time later and said the victim spoke to them and gave a version of what happened.
They said the victim and his wife appeared to be quite shaken by the incident and said they were scared of Yarker.
Police said Yarker was spoken to at his home, where he denied walking on to the victim's property and pushing him, though he did admit to being involved in a verbal altercation and admitted to using "colourful" language.
Police later successfully applied for a provisional personal violence order for the protection of the victim, which was served on Yarker at his home at 8.10pm that night. He was also issued with a court attendance notice.
In sentencing, his honour noted the accused came before the court as a man of otherwise good character.
"Those words mean a lot," Mr Rabbidge said.
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"Twenty-one years without an incident, never been in trouble, that speaks volumes."
He said neighbours often get on extremely well, on other occasions it's just a passing hello and on some occasions, as seen in the courts, "there's been a massive falling-out".
He noted it was a difficult situation, but said people should be able to live in peace.
Mr Rabbidge convicted Yarker and placed him on an 18-month community release order.
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