However, he found she had committed a separate assault against her landlord a year earlier and that she had no right to stop him mowing a lawn on a property that wasn’t her rental.
“The landlord’s evidence shows that Ms Gilliland has, on multiple occasions, stood in front of tractors and other pieces of machinery refusing to move. That behaviour is dangerous and unacceptable,” Blake ruled.
The landlord - who was only identified in the ruling as Mr M and whose property address was suppressed - brought the case to the tribunal last year following the June 14 incident.
CCTV footage from Gilliland’s home on that day showed her landlord mowing near her house but on a separate property.
The landlord then got off the mower and walked to a line of trees on the tenant’s side of the driveway.
“He was shouting at Ms Gilliland, telling her not to film him or his children. Ms Gilliland began striding towards Mr M,” Blake said.
The camera - which only filmed when nearby motion activated it - did not capture the altercation that took place further away, while Gilliland and her landlord gave differing accounts.
The landlord didn’t deny he was on the tenant’s property or that he attempted to knock Gilliland’s phone out of her hand at the time of the incident, Blake said.
However, he claimed Gilliland hit him in the face and groin.
Gilliland denied hitting her landlord in the face and said she “kicked out with her foot when Mr M ‘lunged’ at her”, Blake said.
“Her foot made contact, but she could not recall where on Mr M’s body.”
Blake ultimately ruled Gilliland had acted in self-defence during this incident as her landlord was trespassing at her rental in an agitated state, had tried to knock her phone out of her hand, and was tall and physically much stronger.
However, Gilliland and the landlord both admitted that a separate lawnmowing-inspired altercation had also taken place the year before in February 2023.
Gilliland said her landlord had been on her rental property that time too and was goading her.
So she “swung” at him trying to land a slap but missed, she told the tribunal.
The landlord, however, claimed she hit him hard on the head.
Blake ruled that regardless of whether Gilliland landed her blow or not, this incident constituted an assault.
He said he was even more alarmed by the dangers posed by Gilliland’s repeated attempts to stop the landlord from mowing a paddock unconnected with the rental property.
The assault together with Gilliland’s “erratic” and “unpredictable” behaviour meant there was a real risk the lawnmowing could be a “continuing flash point” and lead to worse conflict, Blake said.
That meant it would be “inequitable” to refuse the landlord’s request to terminate the tenancy, he said.
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