The neighbours, who allegedly taunted and watched the Rolleston residents, have now moved out.
Senior Sergeant Dean Harker said police have seen an increase in the number of complaints regarding neighbourhood conflicts in the district over the last month.
A member of the family, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It started a couple of years after they moved in.
"They were targeting the other neighbours first and then they started on us. They kind of left my husband alone but they would yell out at me.
"It got to the point where we didn’t really go outside. My husband wouldn’t even open his garage because they’d be watching him. They’d just stand out there and stare at you or look out their window at you. It was constant weird stuff they were doing.”
They were very relieved to hear their neighbours have now moved out as the household was deeply affected by the conflict, the resident said.
"We even changed the layout of our house. We blocked the windows in our lounge and made it a smaller area so they couldn’t look into it.”
They reported the incidents to police but there was not much that could be done unless a criminal offence was committed.
"I laid a complaint first off and then I had direct contact with a police officer and could just contact him.
"It may have been about six times I talked to police about it but there was a lot of stuff I didn’t report because it was annoying to us but it wasn’t going to change anything.”
Harker said the conflict with the resident is one of a number of similar situations they have been made aware of recently.
"We have about three ongoing conflicts in Rolleston at the moment and a couple of incidents from rural areas outside of Rolleston.”
He said police sometimes attempt to speak with both parties to try to work through the conflict but it is not always possible.
"Not everybody agrees to mediation so it can be difficult. Legally there is not a lot we can do if they have not committed a criminal offence.”
Harker said the key piece of advice he can give is to not take matters into your own hands.
Police advice: Take action if you are being harassed
Over the last month the Selwyn district has had an increase of residents having ongoing problems with their neighbours and calling into the station for advice. A lot of the time it is more of a civil than criminal matter, writes area response manager Senior Sergeant Dean Harker.
Here is some advice for people having these types of problems:
If you’ve been harassed by a stranger or someone else in the community, you can take action against them under the Harassment Act 1997.
“Harassment” covers a wide range of behaviour, including things such as stalking, abusive phone calls, and threatening letter.
The Harassment Act recognises that behaviour that might seem innocent or trivial on its own may amount to harassment when seen in context.
When you take action under the Harassment Act, you have to show, first, that the behaviour amounts to “harassment” within the meaning of the Act, and second that the harassment meets the test for obtaining a restraining order under the civil law parts of the Act or meet the higher test for criminal harassment.
The Harassment Act doesn’t apply when the person harassing you is someone who you’re in a family or domestic relationship with. This is covered instead by the Family Violence Act.
Family violence (which the law used to call “domestic violence”) can include a wide range of family and close personal relationships.
How can the Harassment Act help?
If you’re being harassed, you can apply for a restraining order from the district court under the “civil harassment” parts of the Act.
The Harassment Act also makes the most serious types of harassment a criminal offence, whether or not you’ve already been granted a restraining order. In those cases, you can complain to the police, and if the harasser is convicted they could be jailed for up to two years.
A person’s behaviour can amount to both criminal and civil harassment. In those situations, you can both complain to the police and also apply to the district court for a restraining order.
What is a restraining order?
A restraining order is a legal order granted by the district court under the “civil harassment” part of the Harassment Act. The order makes it a criminal offence for the harasser to contact you in any way, or do things like watching or hanging round outside your home, or following you or stopping you in the street, or doing anything else that would make any reasonable person fear for their safety.
The order also makes it illegal for the harasser to threaten to do any of those things, or to encourage someone else to do any of those things to you.
Just having a restraining order made against them doesn’t give the harasser a criminal record. However, it’s a criminal offence if they breach the order, and this will give the person a criminal record. In this way a restraining order is similar to a protection order under the Family Violence Act.
• An order can’t be made against a child (that is, someone under 18) unless they’re married, in a civil union, or in a de facto relationship with their parent’s permission.
• An order can’t be made against someone who you are (or have been) in a family or domestic relationship with. In these cases you may be able to apply for a protection order under the Family Violence Act.
What’s been happening crime-wise around the district?
We had a fantastic result when Senior Constable Hamish Caird, of Darfield, was able to apprehend two people and charge them with a large number of offences relating to the theft of farm gates in the area. With some good old-fashioned police work we were able to hold these suspects to account for their actions and return a large number of gates to their owners.
We are also running an operation over the next few months focusing on young drivers breaching their driver licence, we are focusing on educating the drivers rather than punishing them.
I encourage any parent of a youth who is apprehended during the operation to attend the seminar we are having at the end of the operation, as a number of parents will be unaware of insurance implications, financial and emotional effects on family of any youths involved in accidents where they breach their licence or a caught driving outside the terms of their licence.
