Man due in court on gun charges

Police had guns at the ready after a man allegedly pointed a firearm at his neighbours in Judea yesterday.

Police cordoned off the Waihi Rd entrance to Churchill Rd about 10.30am.

It is understood neighbours called 111 after a man they shared a driveway with pointed a gun at them.

There was a child in their house at the time.

Churchill Rd resident Jason Bowles said he had just come back from the supermarket when he saw the cordon.

Mr Bowles said he always heard fighting at the house.

"We wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning to him and his girlfriend," Mr Bowles said.

"They've got kids too."

Mr Bowles said the fights happened "all the time".

Another neighbour, who would not be named, said he heard them "going off" yesterday.

"There's trouble all of the time. He's screaming with her and she's saying nasty things ... They had another domestic about a week ago where she was standing at the top of the driveway swearing. I just wish we could get them evicted. This is usually a pretty quiet neighbourhood and it gets pretty frustrating that this happens all the time. We have our grandson living with us. He's 4 years old and they are swearing and fighting all the time. That's another concern. We just don't want this kind of thing going on around here. It was a shock to see the police pull out their firearms from their cars."

Another neighbour, Mitchell Broughton, said he had just arrived home to hear police next door saying someone had been arrested. "There have been arguments going on for ages, so something bad must have happened," Mr Broughton said. "A man and a woman had been arguing just before Christmas but I hadn't heard anything there for the last two weeks, until today."

A 39-year-old man is expected to appear in Tauranga District Court tomorrow on firearms charges.