A 60-YEAR-OLD man allegedly attacked a road cleaner when she put leaves and twigs in the hedge outside his home in the aftermath of Storm Ciarán, a court heard.
Dale Benest is accused of snatching the woman’s shovel, threatening her with it and pushing her so hard that she fell and injured her head against a metal gate, the Magistrate’s Court was told.
Mr Benest denies grave and criminal assault.
On the first day of a two-day trial, the court heard that the incident happened on 24 November last year when the alleged victim and her team were clearing roads in St Helier.
The woman said that Mr Benest had objected to her putting storm debris in the hedge and on empty land outside his house.
She told the court: “I apologised and went to put the remainder in the
opposite hedge. Then he said it was his parents’ property.
“He started trying to take the shovel off me. He took it and held it with both hands. I thought he was going to hit me with it.
“There was bit of pushing and pulling and he pushed me backwards into a metal gate.”
She called the police and Mr Benest was arrested shortly afterwards. The woman was found to have cuts and bruises on the back of her head and forehead.
During cross-examination, Advocate Mark Boothman, defending, suggested to the woman that she had been aggressive towards Mr Benest.
She replied: “I didn’t swear or get angry until I was thrown on the floor.”
Advocate Boothman continued: “You punched him in the side of the head.”
She said: “Absolutely ridiculous. If I did, why didn’t he press charges?”
Mr Benest claims that he had “firmly but politely” asked her not to deposit leaves on his land and she had become argumentative and abusive.
He explained that his mother’s horse used the land and could have become seriously unwell if it had eaten the debris.
He added: “There were shards of glass in the detritus. If the horse had ingested them, they would have caused lacerations to the stomach or intestines and a horrible death by infection.”
Mr Benest said he took the cleaner’s shovel to put the debris back on to the road and told her: “You can have it back when I’ve finished.”
He said that as the woman struggled to take it from him, she fell backwards and hit her head.
He added: “She became violently aggressive.”
Crown Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, asked Mr Benest: “Was your mother’s horse there at the time?”
He said: “Not at that time.”
She said: “You could have contacted the parish if you thought they were doing a bad job.”
He replied: “With hindsight, yes.”
The trial is due to conclude today. Relief
Magistrate Sarah Fitz is presiding.
