Man accused of killing neighbour’s carp with detergent in row over pond noise
A man threw detergent into his neighbor’s pool and left three carp dead during an argument over noise, a court has heard.
Gerry Duffy is also accused of throwing motor oil from his window into next-door neighbor Andrea Ptohides’ garden pond in the first of three incidents in Hadley Road, Barnet, north London, last month.
Willesden Magistrates’ Court heard Duffy went to his neighbour’s house complaining about noise caused by a pond in the garden which shared a fence with Duffy’s home.
Prosecutors said Duffy, 76, told his neighbor that noise from the pond was causing him to lose sleep and had previously “threatened to take matters into his own hands” if the complainant did not do something about it.
The white-haired Duffy spoke only to confirm personal information and deny the four charges against him in court Tuesday.
In the first alleged incident, on March 20, Duffy is accused of causing damage by throwing motor oil into a pond.
At the hearing four days later, the court found that the pipes supplying water to the complainant’s pond had been cut.
Prosecutors said Mr Ptohides reviewed CCTV footage from his garden and saw Duffy climbing over the fence into his garden that day.
On March 26, the alleged victim found three of his carp dead in the pond and believes detergent had been spilled into them.
The court heard Mr Ptohides said CCTV footage showed the defendant climbing the fence towards the garden between 2.32am and 3.08am that morning.
Duffy denies three counts of destruction of property and one count of unlawful destruction of fish.
The defendant, who was released on conditional bail, will be tried in the same court on August 4.
