Truck driver Anthony Stevens pleads guilty to common assault on neighbour

A Sunshine Coast truck driver has admitted to resorting to violence after he attacked his neighbour with a shovel in a bizarre dispute over lawn mowing in the evening.

Anthony Scott Stevens leaving Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Picture: Sam Turner

An innocuous argument about lawn mowing has evolved into a violent biff with a shovel between a truck driver and his neighbour on the Sunshine Coast.

Maroochydore Magistrates Court heard how Anthony Scott Stevens, 51, lost his cool with a nearby resident on February 29 at Diddillibah after his victim decided to mow his lawn in the early evening.

The court was told the Diddillibah truckie was working morning shifts when he heard his neighbour mowing his lawn about 6.30pm and asked him to stop before the pair had a verbal “to and fro”.

Police prosecutor Jeanette Grigoris told the court on Tuesday it escalated into violence when Stevens threatened the victim before he assaulted him with a shovel.

Sergeant Grigoris said the 51-year-old hit his victim on the arm before he punched the neighbour several times.

Stevens hiding his face from media following his sentence.

The court heard the assault only stopped when a witness intervened.

“It is a high level of violence for a common assault,” the police prosecutor told the court, as she said jail wasn’t a sentence of last resort for an offence of violence.

The court heard the neighbour did not suffer any visible injuries, however wrote in his victim statement how the attack had a “significant impact” on him and his family.

His partner (left) supported the 51-year-old truckie (right) in court.

Defence lawyer Zac Reinke said the Diddillibah father admitted he was the aggressor in the tussle and was remorseful.

Mr Reinke said he was instructed the attack happened in the context of neighbours in the street arguing about mowing lawns on boundary lines, however said this was not an excuse.

The lawyer said the victim was mowing his lawn adjacent to Stevens’ property when their verbal argument led to a physical altercation.

She grabbed this journalist’s phone outside court.

“Ah, the smell of cut grass ... when the sun’s going down,” magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist said.

Mr Stjernqvist said it was a minor neighbourhood dispute but stated there “surely” could have been a different way to solve the issue. He however accepted there was history behind it.

Stevens pleaded guilty to common assault and was sentenced to six months’ jail, suspended immediately for 12 months.

The 51-year-old was supported by his partner in the public gallery, who grabbed this journalist’s phone when he tried to take Stevens’ photo outside the courthouse.

The partner was not accused of wrongdoing in relation to the incident involving the neighbour.