Mallet attack over nature strip results in neighbour being awarded $1 million

A neighbourhood dispute over a nature strip resulted in one woman attacking another with a rubber mallet, but the victim of the assault has now been awarded about $1 million in damages.

Annemie Pretorius claimed the nature strip their properties shared was hers and she could make changes to it as she wished, Acting Justice Ann Ainslie-Wallace wrote in her ACT Supreme Court decision.

Some changes would inconvenience her neighbour, a woman aged in her 60s.

On 15 March 2022, Pretorius was working on the nature strip when the pair began speaking. When Pretorius tried to move away, the neighbour accidentally touched her on her hat, aiming for her shoulder, to indicate their conversation hadn’t finished.

“Without warning, and shockingly, [Pretorius] swung a rubber mallet and deliberately struck the [neighbour] on the side of her head,” the acting justice said.

“By this action, [Pretorius] caused significant injury, damage and loss to the [neighbour] with the result that the life she previously lived is now all but lost to her and she spends her days anxious and fearful and, at times, in great pain.”

She said when the neighbour was left “bleeding and dazed” by the attack, Pretorius “callously” did nothing to help and continued gardening.

She was charged with assault, pleaded guilty and was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence.

Meanwhile, the neighbour began to sue her in the Supreme Court.

She had been taken to hospital after the assault with significant pain to her head that lasted a week. She said since then, the pain had become a constant throbbing.

She began taking medication infusions to alleviate the pain last year, and while these infusions last for three months, they require a hospital stay of up to 12 days and cost $8500 each time.

She has been told she will require the infusions for the rest of her life.

A neurologist thought the pain was due to nerve damage, while the court heard she has post-traumatic stress disorder.

Acting Justice Ainslie-Wallace said she tried to go back to work after the assault but she couldn’t concentrate, had memory problems and felt significant pain in her head when working.

“A vibrant, engaging, social, competent woman has been reduced to a fearful and anxious person, suffering significant pain and unable to live in the home she and her husband designed, built and loved to live in and no longer able to entertain with her husband as she did before,” the acting justice said.

While the two still live next door to each other, the neighbour hasn’t seen Pretorius since the assault.

“I’m just scared shitless of her,” she said.

The neighbour was awarded almost $1 million in damages, including for general damages, future economic loss, treatment and travel, plus interest and legal costs.