James Price: Mornington man ordered to pay neighbour $21,500 compensation after outburst

A Hobart man has been found by a tribunal to have discriminated against his blameless neighbour by painting her as a “cheap Asian prostitute”. His shameful outburst revealed.

A Hobart man has been ordered to pay his neighbour more than $21,000 in compensation, after it was found he breached the Anti-Discrimination Act by painting his blameless neighbour as a “cheap Asian prostitute”.

Mornington man James Edward Price was ordered to pay his Quarry Rd neighbour Evelyn Baco, a nurse, a total of $21,567.15 for the “distress and humiliation” he caused her, predominantly during a vicious verbal outburst on May 1 last year.

The facts of the matter were set out in a recent decision by Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Robert Winter.

Mr Winter said it was “not entirely clear” why the relationship between Mr Price and Ms Baco soured between 2019–21, with the pair previously maintaining “pleasant and amicable” relations.

However, by December 2021, a series of interim restraining orders had been granted against Mr Price and on May 1 last year, things took a spectacular turn for the worse.

According to Ms Baco’s complaint, Mr Price “yelled at the complainant and her husband while they were outside their property”.

He called her a “f---ing wh---,” described her as a “dirty little woman checking out men at school – five-dollar, five dollar mate,” and accused her of “f---ing other men” behind her husband’s back.

“The complainant asserted that the respondent’s actions on this day included insinuations that she was a ‘cheap Asian prostitute’,” Mr Winter said.

Ms Baco also alleged that Mr Price threw rocks on her roof, and that Mr Price had previously behaved in an intimidating way towards her.

During the hearing into the matter on May 9 this year, Ms Baco and Mr Price gave evidence from separate rooms due to the “ongoing acrimony” between them.

Mr Winter said that Ms Baco was “clearly emotional” while giving evidence.

“The complainant advised that she was in no doubt that the respondent’s conduct towards her on 1 May 2022 amounted to discrimination on the basis of her race and gender, and also was of a sexually harassing nature and otherwise intimidatory towards her,” Mr Winter said.

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“The complainant gave evidence that as a consequence of the respondent’s behaviours towards her on 1 May, she had been forced to take time off work and had suffered other consequences such as distress, significant anxiety, and trouble sleeping. She no longer resided at her premises.”

Mr Winter said he was persuaded to find the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 had been breached on the balance of probabilities due in part to a separate incident on January 9 last year.

On that occasion, Mr Price called Ms Baco a “stupid Asian f---,” a “sl--,” and told her, “This is Australia, you f---ing mole”.

He previously pleaded guilty to 11 breaches of a restraint order relating to this episode and was sentenced in Hobart Magistrates Court on March 28 this year.

Mr Price attempted to have details of his previous sentence excluded from the tribunal’s consideration of the current matter on the basis it would be “unfair” to him.

Originally published as James Price: Mornington man ordered to pay neighbour $21,500 compensation after outburst