A ROW between neighbours over building work boiled over when a man “acted on impulse” by kicking in a fence and ripping a doorbell out.

Raymond Sultana, 53, confronted a neighbour as she pulled up on her driveway in Thorpe-le-Soken in February.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard the victim heard Sultana shouting, before he opened her driver’s side door and confronted her.

The court was told he was angry over the reporting of matters to the council, but the victim replied by saying “it was nothing to do with her”.

Sultana “proceeded to kick in” the fence at the front of her property, before ripping her doorbell from her front door.

The doorbell was replaced at no cost by the manufacturer, but the victim had to splash out £150 to fix her fence.

In an impact statement, the victim said she was “scared of what he would do” after police released him from custody following his arrest.

She said she was left with “a real sense of paranoia, adding: “Some of my family members knew about the issue and wouldn’t come round because of it.

“I’ve moved house now and now they can come round.”

Sultana, of Frinton Road, Thorpe-le-Soken, admitted one charge of criminal damage.

In mitigation, the court heard he had been undertaking extension work at the back of his property and had agreed to help his neighbour with some work “at no cost or a very low cost”.

But there had been “ongoing issues” with the neighbour, despite the fact he had “tried to be considerate” over the noise generated by his extension work.

The court heard he felt “provoked, abused and bullied”

and “felt he had enough”.

He had been suffering a mental health break down as a result of the problem with his neighbour, with his solicitor telling the court “he had tried to help her, tried to be polite and tried to be kind”.

The court heard he regretted “acting on impulse” by damaging her property.

Magistrates ordered Sultana to pay £409 in fines and court costs, including £150 in compensation for the damage to the fence.

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