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Former council and politician candidate Mary O’Neill harassed the family who lived next door to her.
One woman’s bizarre explanations for harassing her neighbors have been rejected by a judge.
Napier’s wife, Mary O’Neill, was found guilty of stalking a couple and their two young children after Judge Gordon Manemos found her evidence to be “selfish” and “evasive.”
All four guilty verdicts refer to acts carried out by O’Neill in late February of last year. Judge Manemos reached the verdicts late last month after a hearing in September last year.
The verdicts are the latest chapter in an 18-month conflict that began when Peter Malcouronne, his partner Nicola Spicer, and their two young children moved into a house on Shakespeare Road next to O’Neill, 56, and her husband. Thomas O’Neill. in June 2018.
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Relations quickly soured and turned into legal proceedings. After a two-day hearing in February last year, Malcouronne and O’Neill received restraining orders after months of hostility.
O’Neill violated the order a few hours after the hearing ended. As he walked past Spicer outside their homes, O’Neill looked directly at Spicer as he gave a loud “fake or fake laugh” in his direction.
John Cowpland / Stuff
O’Neill was found guilty last year of throwing a rock at an AA repairman.
O’Neill’s attorney, Philip Ross, said she could have spontaneously laughed for any reason.
“She may have looked up at her house and seen her husband wince,” she said.
The judge favored the evidence from Malcouronne and Spicer, who said they had been looking directly at Spicer when she laughed.
The second incident occurred the next day, when O’Neill posted a comment along with a link to a Stuff article ‘Napier’s Neighbors Receive Restraining Orders from Each Other’ on his Facebook page. This violated the restraining order, preventing him from publishing any details of the process “in any way.”
The third incident occurred three days later when O’Neill made visual recordings of Spicer and the children getting into their parked car.
Another neighbor described O’Neill holding his cell phone and following Spicer as he moved. O’Neill said he had been moving the cell phone in an attempt to get coverage, which can be spotty in that area.
When questioned about this event, O’Neill revealed that she had 18 CCTV cameras in her home, three of which captured the street. She told the court that she had images taken on the day in question and that she had released these images. But neither Ross nor the police had been provided with this.
Judge Maienen noted that when O’Neill was questioned further about this incident, she became evasive and deflected questions with “totally irrelevant” allegations of inappropriate behavior from other neighbors.
John Kirk-Anderson / Stuff
Judge Gordon Maienen issued his decision in late December after a hearing in September.
The judge said: “I formed the opinion that Ms. O’Neill’s evidence was self-serving. She was evasive and once pressed on issues that needed to be answered by her, Ms. O’Neill resorted to irrelevant facts, including her health and the amount of her student loan, to deflect the questioning. “
Judge Manemos was pleased that O’Neill made the recordings, noting that even by her own admission, she had three CCTV cameras that were capable of recording Spicer and the children, and this alone was a violation of orders.
The fourth and final incident occurred on February 26 of last year. While Malcouronne and Spicer unloaded their children and other items from their car, O’Neill passed in her husband’s car. He slowed, looked at the couple and the children, and gave a long blast on the car’s horn.
O’Neill denied honking, but Ross suggested that people would honk on Shakespeare Road as a way to warn approaching birds.
Judge Maienen favored Malcouronne and Spicer’s evidence over O’Neill’s.
It found O’Neill guilty of four counts of violating the restraining order. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
In July of last year, O’Neill was found guilty of throwing a rock at an AA repairman fixing the family’s car. She was found guilty and released from the charge of threatening to hurt.
O’Neill was not a successful candidate in the 2019 Hawke’s Bay Regional Council elections, but he received 4,131 votes.
A longtime member of the Alianza party, he ran for the Napier electorate seat in 2014 and 2011. He garnered 59 votes in 2014 and 48 in 2011.
