A Tauranga man who continued to harass his neighbours with offensive signs, despite a restraining order against him, was fined $500 in Tauranga District Court today.
Robert William Anstis, 47, a plumber, pleaded guilty to contravening the order, a charge which carries a maximum penalty of a $5000 fine or six months in jail.
"Really, this has got to stop somewhere," Judge Heather Simpson said.
The court was told that in mid-February a neighbour was granted a court order reining in Anstis' behaviour.
The application, under the Harassment Act 1997, referred to a broom handle the defendant had leaned against his house facing the neighbour's property, prosecutor Sergeant Barry Woon said.
On top of the handle was a large golf glove with the fingers shaped into a "rude and offensive gesture".
On another occasion Anstis stencilled a rude single index finger on cardboard and taped it onto a lamp in his lounge.
At various times, morning and evening, he turned on the lamp which projected a silhouette where it could be clearly seen from a neighbour's house.
From the dock, Anstis said neighbours had been watching his place since they got the restraining order. He denied he had instigated any animosity.
Judge Simpson told him: "The only person's behaviour that you can control is your own. You have a choice about whether you get upset by their behaviour or not."
