Neighbourhood noise dispute ends in violent home invasion with shovel handle

A Top End neighbourhood noise complaint that ended in a violent home invasion after a man burst into a “party unit” armed with a shovel handle has played out in the Supreme Court.

A TOP End neighbourhood noise complaint that ended in a violent home invasion after a man burst into the “party unit” next door armed with a shovel handle has played out in the Supreme Court.

John Eiao, also known as Justin Terekone, pleaded guilty to entering his neighbour’s flat with the intent to commit an offence and aggravated assault after the dispute boiled over in May last year.

The court heard there had been “a history of complaints of noise and loud partying” at Eiao’s neighbours place in the lead up to the attack and he was also under stress from work and study commitments.

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After he finally snapped on the morning of May 23, Eiao smashed a hole in the other man’s glass sliding door with the shovel handle and began yelling at him.

The court heard the neighbour started to apologise for the noise but Eiao ran up to him and hit him on the right knee and left foot with the improvised weapon before leaving, with police and paramedics arriving shortly after.

In sentencing, Justice Jenny Blokland said Eiao had been “very frank” with the officers and the circumstances of their conversation “indicate and illustrate that he was under some stress at the time”.

“He explained to police that this has been a problem for some time,” she said.

“When they asked him what he used, he went and got the weapon, the cut-down shovel.”

Justice Blokland said Eiao’s lawyer, Matt Hubber, had told the court the noise issue had been “going on for a long time” and prosecutors accepted “that noise had been made and that it was not an isolated incident”.

“There are all sorts of things, smashing bottles and abuse coming from the neighbours,” she said.

“The building materials would appear to be fairly flimsy and just about anything can be heard from the party unit.”

In sentencing Eiao to 18 months in jail, suspended after time served, Justice Blokland said while “any assault with a weapon is serious, fortunately, the victim was not significantly harmed”.

“What is perhaps aggravating about the matter is a person taking the law into their own hands,” she said.

“On the other hand, Mr Eiao has nothing in his background and with respect to his record of court appearances, that indicates he has any tendency towards this sort of offending.”

Justice Blokland said while “these sorts of disputes are very difficult”, Eiao had to “find other ways to resolve this issue”.

“You just cannot go into neighbours’ places and assault them,” she said.

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