Moment pensioner, 81, attacked neighbour in parking row

Video footage captured the moment when an 81-year-old retiree attacked her neighbor in a petty argument over parking on a communal grass verge on their well-to-do cul-de-sac.

Eunice Day was caught on video storming to neighbor Suzanne Webb’s home in Ferndown, Dorset, before reaching over her potted geranium plant to attack her.

A court heard that shortly after they moved into her rented bungalow, 81-year-old Day upset her new neighbors by leaving her Audi on a lawn next door.

She kept it there for several weeks, leaving a small group of community-conscious homeowners unable to mow the lawn.

Day was asked by Mrs. Webb to move her car, but replied that she could ‘park wherever I wanted’.

This photo shows Day’s Audi outside her home (left). She refused to take the car off the communal grass verge outside her house, preventing her neighbors from mowing it

Day allegedly escalated the feud by deliberately blocking a private footpath leading to the five detached homes at the end of the cul-de-sac with her garbage can.

She also allegedly sat outside on her scooter in an attempt to intimidate her neighbours.

Matters came to a head after the five residents complained to Day’s rental agent about her behavior.

It prompted Day to “aggressively” bang on Ms. Webb’s front door to break up with her.

The victim filmed Day through her open kitchen window. The footage shows Day reaching over Mrs Webb’s windowsill and knocking the phone out of her hand.

Ms Webb had her six-year-old granddaughter with her and she was shocked by the incident on June 20, 2022.

The victim filmed Day through her open kitchen window in Ferndown, Dorset, in June 2022

In the clip, Day can be seen reaching over the victim’s windowsill and knocking the phone out of her hand

The police were called and Day was prosecuted for assaulting Mrs. Webb, who is in her sixties.

The suspect argued that she acted in self-defense and thought her neighbor was holding a knife instead of a phone.

Ms Webb, who has lived on the road for 25 years, told magistrates in Poole that problems arose shortly after Day was repealed on April 1, 2022.

She said, “She had parked her Audi in the private lane we share between our five houses.

“I asked her who it belonged to when I was walking and she said something like ‘I can park where I want’. It sat there for weeks. We found the situation uncomfortable.’

Day said she thought she owned the land. She said, “They kept saying my car was on their property. I had already told Mrs. Webb that I would look in the register and if my car was parked incorrectly I would move it.

“Then I got an email from them asking me to move my car so they could mow their communal grass. I pay a person to mow the lawn and I mow that part. It was so hot then that the grass was barely there.’

Eunice Day leaves Poole Magistrates’ Court in Dorset last week, where she was sentenced

Day, pictured outside Poole Magistrates court, was given a conditional discharge

Prosecutor Jason Spelman said Ms. Webb’s mobile footage showed the way Day approached her home that it was “never going to be a friendly visit.”

He said: ‘The defendant has gone there in a rage to talk about what’s going on, blocking the driveway and leaving garbage cans on the sidewalks.

“This was never going to be a friendly visit to her neighbor. It wasn’t a good idea and she flies up the driveway and you can clearly see what happened.

‘The complainant opened the window with one hand and filmed well inside the house with the other hand.

“She was physically unable to reach out the window to threaten the defendant because of her height.

“If she had stuck her hand out the window with her phone in it, she would have been very vulnerable. You don’t hear Mrs. Webb say anything aggressive.

81-year-old Eunice Day’s home in Ferndown, Dorset is circled in the above photo

“I would suggest that the defendant did what she did because she was angry that she was being filmed. The suggestion that the complainant carried a knife is ludicrous.

‘There is nothing to indicate that the complainant had one, if there was any doubt she could have just walked away. There was no reason to reach out.”

Michael McGhie, defending himself, said his client acted in self-defense. He said: ‘The defendant is a perfectly respectable woman who has worked in business all her life.

‘She has come to live in Ferndown and has an unhappy relationship with her neighbours.

“This has been going on for a few months and my client wanted to walk around and clear the air with the woman she thought was making all the complaints. Not an unreasonable thing to do.

Other properties on the road in Ferndown, Dorset, next to Eunice Day’s house

“My client has had a number of eye surgeries recently and she felt like a knife was coming at her.

It was actually a phone, but she took a split second to defend herself.

“She made a pre-emptive strike, and in circumstances where you feel in danger, you can take the first action.”

However, magistrates found Day guilty of assault.

Paul Kemp, chairman of the magistrate, made it clear that the video evidence was damning. He said: ‘The cell phone and video images were very clear.

“The complainant’s hand did not go outside the window frame and the defendant reached in and knocked the phone out of her hand.

“We do not accept that this was in self-defense. We find the case proven beyond reasonable doubt.’

Day was conditionally discharged because there was no evidence that Mrs. Webb suffered any injuries in the skirmish.

She was also ordered to pay £646 in costs.