A sheriff rejected calls for a banning order to separate two feuding neighbours because he feared it would expose one side to “malicious” complaints.
Allison MacKenzie claims she is scared to go home after the court refused to order an injunction against her next-door neighbour Rikki Millar.
She wanted non-harassment measures put in place after the pair’s simmering six-year squabble boiled over in a row about a new puppy.
Mr Millar, 38, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court following an altercation at their homes in Belvidere Place, Auchterarder, in May, last year.
He admitted a charge of behaving in an aggressive or threatening manner by shouting, swearing and snatching a plant pot from Miss MacKenzie, before throwing it at her partner Michael Rennie, causing it to smash to the ground.
The takeaway owner was fined £400 for the outburst.
Miss MacKenzie’s call for a non-harassment order – to prevent Mr Millar from approaching or contacting her or her partner – was rejected by Sheriff William Wood.
He said it would expose Mr Millar to the threat of “malicious complaint” from his neighbour.
The sheriff told Mr Millar: “Your best bet is just don’t talk to her.”
Row erupted over new puppy
Mr Millar accepts he “snapped” following a back-and-forth row but he strongly refutes Miss MacKenzie’s claims she is “scared” to come home following the judgement.
He said he has been tormented by his neighbour since he moved into the street in 2015.
Miss MacKenzie, 54, told us: “I’m really disappointed the court has refused this order.
“I can’t see why they’ve taken this decision.
“I wanted this order to give us some extra protection because I’m really scared of this man.”
The court heard the households had been rowing for years.
Things came to a head during the first months of lockdown, when father-of-two Mr Millar brought home a pet dog.
Mr Millar’s solicitor Pauline Cullerton said: “This was part of a long-running neighbourly dispute.
“Mr Millar had a new puppy and the neighbours were complaining about it barking.”
A shouting match escalated and Millar confronted Miss MacKenzie and Mr Rennie in their garden, before smashing the plant pot.
Sheriff Wood told Mr Millar: “Clearly this was an unpleasant incident involving your neighbours.
“You cannot go around behaving like this.
“Whatever your issues, this was not the way to deal with it.”
The court heard Miss MacKenzie had moved out because she “didn’t feel safe where she was.”
Sheriff Wood added: “I’m not satisfied that there is a need for a non-harassment order.
“It would be putting Mr Millar at risk of a malicious complaint about him.”
Mr Millar, who said he is trying to rebuild his life after he was partially blinded in an unrelated knife attack in 2018, replied from the dock: “You must know her too.”
Possible appeal
Miss MacKenzie said: “I’ve stayed here for 25 years and I’ve never fallen out with any of my neighbours before. I love it here.
“But I now have to move out because I don’t want to be living there alone with this man next door.
“It has been a nightmare.”
“I’m now staying in Bridge of Earn but I still have to go back to the house now and again to sort out the sale.
“I’m too scared to go back there on my own.”
Her call for a non-harassment order was backed by a note from her doctor, who told the court: “The actions of her neighbour significantly affected the quality of Allison’s life for several months and it is fortunate that she is now on the way to recovery.”
Miss MacKenzie said she will contact lawyers about a possible appeal against the sheriff’s ruling.
Accusations
Mr Millar insisted there is no reason for Miss MacKenzie to feel scared.
“Things have been really difficult for us for the last six years,” he said.
“We’ve worked hard to make a home for ourselves but she just seems to be causing as much bother for us as she possible can.”
He claimed on one occasion his neighbour accused him of drilling holes in his wall to spy on her – something Miss MacKenzie says never happened.
When he opened his new food business, the Hungry Cow in Auchterarder’s High Street, he received “slanderous” Facebook comments.
“I’m trying to rebuild my life after I was attacked and left blind in one eye.
“This is the last thing I need on top of everything else we’ve been through.”
Hs said: “I don’t believe she’s scared to come home at all.”
Knife attack
Millar made headlines in 2019 after he was left with life-threatening injuries in the brutal Perth city centre assault.
He was left blind in his left eye after being stabbed by two men outside a South Street pub.
Portuguese pair Ruben Correia and Fernando Dos Santos were locked up for 15 years.
