Christchurch neighbours’ dispute over drain bill leads to criminal harassment

Warren Christison criminally harassed his neighbours after a dispute over a shared drain. Photo / 123RF

Riled up over costs incurred over a drain shared with his neighbours, a man began harassing the family next door by pacing outside their home, dumping grass clippings on their driveway and filming them.

The harassment by Warren Christison, of Rangiora, continued to escalate and even saw him call his neighbour’s employer and allege the man was dishonest.

His behaviour was so bad that police determined it amounted to criminal harassment and this week the 67-year-old appeared in Christchurch District Court on the matter.

The court heard the relationship between Christison and his neighbours had broken down over a bill relating to a shared drain.

A member of Christison’s family told police that, ultimately, the dispute just “got ridiculously out of hand”.

From mid-May last year, Christison would behave in a “harassing manner”, including driving slowly past the neighbours’ house while tooting his horn and pulling the middle finger at them.

He also made verbal threats, waved a hammer at them, emptied grass clippings onto their driveway and paced in front of their property holding “what appeared to be a knife”.

On July 15 last year, he was served with a notice warning against the harassment but went on to breach it on multiple occasions.

About two weeks later, he held his mobile phone above the shared fence and aimed it at the neighbours’ house, directly into the window of their 4-year-old son’s bedroom.

He also drove past their back fence and appeared to be filming them, the court heard.

There were other instances in which Christison had his phone out, giving the impression he was filming his neighbours, including from the footpath at the front of their home.

Christison began calling out to his neighbours’ dogs as he was backing his truck into his driveway and then took the harassment even further by ringing the workplace of his neighbour.

He claimed the man had been lying to his boss and told the workplace it was employing “idiots and stupid people”.

The court heard the neighbours began to fear for their safety and struggled to live a normal life in their own home.

The male victim was embarrassed that Christison had contacted his employer.

In court, defence lawyer Anne Gordon asked Judge Jane Farish to impose a sentence of supervision, saying Christison had been honest about his offending and had sold his house.

He would be moving next month, she said.

Crown prosecutor Leandra Fiennes said the offending was relatively serious for its kind and it appeared Christison did not appreciate or understand the gravity of his actions.

Judge Farish said the entire family had been affected by the ordeal.

“Whatever you think about your neighbours, your behaviour was criminal and caused harm, particularly to the daughter, who is worried about you.”

The judge acknowledged that selling his house was a further consequence of Christison’s offending.

On three counts of criminal harassment, she sentenced him to nine months of supervision and 100 hours of community work. A restraining order in favour of the neighbours was also imposed.

Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at NZME. She joined NZME in 2022. Before that, she was at the Christchurch Star.