Jury clears man of assault after front yard fracas

A heart bypass patient almost went to jail for defending himself with a golf club after he was punched in the face in his own yard.

Michael Glover, from the Western Bay of Plenty, says he hit his attacker with the club as he tried to fend off a bashing.

His attacker and his family had a history of verbally abusing him and there was a trepass order against him. But the man drove into Glover's yard and punched him in the face, breaking his glasses and gouging his flesh.

"It took a chunk out of my face. That's when I hit him," Glover says. "But it didn't stop him, he just kept coming. Then I really hit him and the golf club broke - that's when I thought 'shit, now I've had it'.

"I stabbed at him with the handle ... I stabbed him in the stomach, there was blood everywhere, but that didn't stop him. I stabbed him in the face, and that stopped him.

"He ran back to the car saying he was going to get his mates and come back. I went inside and called the police and then I saw the ambulance going down the road."

Glover, 58, was charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and wounding with intent.

After a two-day trial, a jury at Hamilton District Court found him not guilty on both counts, but Glover says he should never have been charged. Though his lawyer was paid through legal aid, Glover says he had to pay an additional $7600 in legal fees.

The 2007 attack came after an ongoing battle with a boy racer and his parents, Glover said. The teenager had been doing "wheelies" up and down Glover's rural road.

"I went to his parents' house and spoke to his mother after one particular altercation at my gate - he was doing wheelies on the grass verge outside my place and I told him to piss off and not come back."

Glover said the teen's father arrived at his house the next morning "screaming obscenities" and threatening to kill him and burn down his house. Glover went to the police and got a trespass notice.

"A few weeks later I heard a car revving and revving outside. The dog was barking at the door so I grabbed a torch ... I thought, 'the little bugger, he's coming back to have another go'."

He took the dog back to the house and grabbed a golf club, from by the front door, for protection. He then saw the teen's father was driving the car.

"He went berserk,"Glover says. "He charged down the drive yelling 'I'm going to f***ing kill you'. I'd had triple bypass surgery about six months before and I was still recovering. I was pretty fragile... I really and truly thought I was going to die."

Now, he is just relieved the ordeal is over. "They were really serious charges, I could have ended up in jail for 14 years," he says. "It was awful, just awful. I have never been in front of a court before."

He felt for people such as Alan Gundry, acquitted last week of murder and manslaughter after he shot his friend Gene Atkins. "It will have been devastating for him and his family and friends. Unless you have been there you will never know or understand."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY