Woman who destroyed neighbour’s wisteria before repeatedly hitting her with a crutch breaches restraining order before she’s even left courtroom

A woman who destroyed her neighbor’s wisteria and then hit him repeatedly with a crutch breached a restraining order before she even left court.

Atidel Boutara Cook was found guilty of criminal damage on Wednesday after damaging a premises owned by Pei Wong in Tottenham, north London, on December 17 last year.

Highbury Magistrates’ Court heard the defendant called Ms Wong a ‘b***** bitch’ and when she confronted him about the damage he hit her once on the forehead and twice on the chest.

Ms Wong and her husband Louis Scott are heard to have held freehold of the Victorian house in Stanhope Gardens and have lived above Boutara Cook for two decades.

But District Judge Denis Brennan told Boutara Cook that Ms Wong had made the life of her husband and possibly her children a ‘misery’.

Since the incident he has continued to ‘interfere’ with the property, including ‘continued knocking at night’ which has affected his neighbour’s sleep.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Wong said she felt trapped in her home, scared, anxious and emotionally drained, and had to install CCTV.

Boutara Cook was ordered to pay £500 to the property owners and a five-year restraining order was made banning him from contacting them.

However, the London resident who blew kisses to photographers outside the court violated this order just minutes after it was implemented.

When asked if he understood the sentence, Judge Brennan replied ‘absolutely yes’ and then looked out into the public gallery, kissed the couple and asked: ‘Is he happy?’

Defendant violated judge’s restraining order before leaving court

Then, as he walked towards the door of the courtroom, he called out to them: ‘I’ll send this to you all at once, so you can go on holiday.’

The judge intervened: ‘I am warning you, Miss Boutara Cook, that I consider this to be an immediate breach of the restraining order.’

He added that it would be decided later whether the police would intervene.

Mr. Scott was returning home from work one December evening when he saw Boutara Cook cutting wisteria and uprooting other plants.

Mr Groves, the prosecutor, who did not give his name to reporters, said he told him “fuck you, dirty people” when he approached him.

The architect couple rarely interacted with Boutara Cook but asked him to stop, the court previously heard.

Ms Wong filmed the confrontation and showed the defendant standing outside the front door holding a large pair of garden shears.

Her husband was heard saying: ‘It’s really terrible that you’re doing this.’

The phone is dropped and screams and shouts, including repeated expletives, can be heard in the background.

Mr Scott told the hearing: ‘When he realized my wife was filming him he appeared to lose control, started swearing and waving his arms and grabbed my wife’s phone.

‘He then came to my wife and hit her several times with his crutch.’

Boutara Cook was also given a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

The restraining order makes it illegal for him to have direct or indirect contact with the couple, including their children.

There is an exemption if the couple contacts him about construction issues or if he speaks to them through a lawyer.

Judge Brennan said: ‘Living in accommodation in London or anywhere should be something that gives people security, gives them a sense of well-being and gives them the feeling that they can lead happy and well-ordered lives.

‘Your behavior before December 17th and on December 17th (since December 17th, if I understand correctly) has made the lives of Mr. Scott and Ms. Wong, and myself and their children, a life of misery.

‘This isn’t fair. This is not appropriate.’