A man who fired up a taser after threatening to kill his neighbour's dog has claimed he only did so as a plea to stop it from attacking his own canines.
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Kaine O'Brien, 51, faced Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to possessing or using a prohibited weapon and intimidation with intent to cause fear of physical or mental harm.
About midday on October 20 last year, O'Brien's female neighbour told him to be careful about his dog barking as council rangers recently attended their Cliff Rd, Wollongong unit complex.
O'Brien thanked her for the heads up, but just three hours later, the exchange spun into chaos.
The woman returned to the complex's courtyard with her two barking dogs, which caused O'Brien's dog to bark.
O'Brien started yelling at the woman, saying "I'm going to kill your dog". The woman began to film O'Brien as he began pacing in and out of his unit.
The ordeal escalated when he was seen outside loading batteries into a taser, while his female co-accused allegedly threatened, "I'll stick the taser up your c---".
O'Brien went back inside where his neighbour could hear him activating the weapon as he yelled, "you'll never see your dog again".
He then came back outside and pushed a bin towards his neighbour's barking dog, in what he claimed was an effort to "shoo it away".
O'Brien continued his tirade and yelled, "you'll spend a lot of time in a hospital bed ... walk away for your own safety".
The woman retreated to her unit and showed police the video she recorded when they arrived shortly after.
Officers then walked to O'Brien's unit. He handed over his weapon and was arrested at the scene.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Rachel Biffin said the matter was "extremely serious" and pointed to O'Brien's rap sheet which included offences involving weapons.
However defence lawyer Jordon Mechan said O'Brien was acting in response to continued attacks from his neighbour unleashing her dogs onto his, and that he was finally at his "wits end".
"The taser was taken out merely as a plea for her dogs to stop doing this," Mr Mechan said.
"Her dogs were attacking his dogs over and over again. He's calling police, housing ... and she'd only gotten a warning.
"Meanwhile, he's trying to keep his head cool".
Mr Mechan said O'Brien admitted to saying "extremely stupid things" during the ordeal but had turned a new leaf in his life and managed to maintain a six-year gap in his criminal record.
Magistrate Claire Girotto fined O'Brien $100 and sentenced him to a two-year community correction order, with no supervision required.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
