Noisy neighbours make woman ‘snap’

Jan 13 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A PERTH woman snapped after being subjected to months of anti-social behaviour from her upstairs neighbours.

Drunken Maureen Cahill (40), of Strathtay Road, armed herself with a kitchen knife and went to confront them.

But she was shown mercy by Sheriff Michael Fletcher when she appeared for sentence at Perth Sheriff Court this week.

She was ordered to carry out 140 hours of community work – a direct alternative to a jail term.

But she was told she should regard herself as “very lucky” not to be facing a prison sentence.

The Sheriff said: “Possession of a knife is treated by the courts very seriously indeed.

“The circumstances often result in a custodial sentence being imposed.”

It could “easily have turned into a tragedy” but after considering a detailed background report, he was prepared to deal with it by community service.

Cahill admitted that she had the weapon on the landing of the close in Strathtay Road, Perth, on May 10.

Depute fiscal Janine Bates said that the accused was in her home about 1.20am, heavily under the influence of alcohol.

She went to the kitchen, took a large kitchen knife from the drawer and headed for the upstairs flat.

She started banging on her noisy neighbour’s front door and asked the occupants to keep the noise down.

An argument developed and they spotted she had a knife concealed behind her back but she was disarmed by another neighbour.

Solicitor Cliff Culley said that since children of the previous tenant took over the flat there had been noisy parties and other incidents.

“It was driving her to the end of her tether,” he added. “The council have been round with noise monitoring equipment.”

She took the knife that night but had “no intention” of using it.