Anna Carman: Nasty neighbour smashed CCTV in spying spat
Not Ramsay St: Unlike in the Aussie soapie some neighbours really can’t get along and don’t end up becoming good friends.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Hampton Park woman went ballistic at her neighbour’s house and smashed her CCTV cameras because she thought she was being spied on.
Anna Carman didn’t like the devices directed towards her home so broke them, and smashed her neighbour’s front window for good measure.
But the victim had a hard drive that had recorded the feral fury, and she called the cops.
The 51-year-old disability pensioner pleaded guilty to criminal damage charges at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The court heard Carman and the victim had both lived in the same Hampton Park court for about a year.
At 7pm on November 22, 2019, the woman came home to find her CCTV cameras had been broken and her front window smashed.
When she checked the CCTV hard drive she could see Carman throwing objects at the cameras and the window.
Police were called in and spoke to Carman, who said she “didn’t recall” committing the damage because she “has memory problems”.
During the hearing it was revealed she had done a similar thing to the same neighbour before, on that occasion taking out her anger on the woman’s car.
Carman represented herself in court, saying she “doesn’t have anything to do with Hampton Park any more”.
“We’d had problems with them for the whole year,” Carman said.
“There were ongoing issues.”
She said she didn’t live there now because her house had burnt down and she moved to Cranbourne.
Magistrate Andrew Halse said this type of the offending won’t be tolerated.
“That behaviour you exhibited is unacceptable,” Mr Halse said.
“You just can’t behave that way.”
He said the fact she had moved away after the fire meant it was far less likely there would be any repeats, but if there were, it wouldn’t end well.
“You are someone with experience before the courts,” he said.
“You are likely on the cusp of a term of imprisonment if you do it again.”
Carman was convicted and fined $1000.
