A 71-year-old pensioner who threw stones at a woman's car for partially blocking his U-shaped driveway blamed her and said "that's what you get for parking there".
John Edward Sullivan had pleaded not guilty to a charge of injuring property, and a hearing began in the Launceston Magistrates Court on Thursday, June 25, 2026.
The charge stemmed from an incident on April 22, 2025, when the woman had dropped her husband to the Longford Medical Centre for his first post-operation appointment after undergoing a spinal fusion.
Sullivan, who was self-represented, did not dispute throwing a "handful of gravel" at the car, but denied having caused any damage because he had only thrown gravel at the windscreen.
He told the magistrate that he had previously complained to the council and the police about people parking over his driveway. As a result, the council had drawn yellow, non-parking lines.
Sullivan told the court he had previously thrown stones at 21 cars and that none of them had ever parked there again. He also told the magistrate they were not rocks, but pebbles.
Dashcam footage played to court
The woman gave evidence she had parked close to the medical centre, and did not dispute that she had parked her Nissan slightly over the yellow lines.
The woman said she was waiting in the car when a man came out of the house next to her, with his hand behind his back and yelling verbal abuse.
"I heard something to the effect of, 'Are you going to effing move?' and when I shook my head ... he pulled his hand out from behind his back and threw a handful of stones on my car," the witness testified.
"The lady behind me started up her vehicle and moved back about a foot so I could move back and get off the yellow line."
Dashcam footage of a man throwing projectiles at the car was played to the court.
A Tasmania Police constable who investigated the matter testified that he had visited Sullivan's property, and described the driveway as a U-shape with effectively two access points.
"Technically, if one was blocked, you could get out the other one?" magistrate Reg Marron asked.
"Yes, and one was blocked," Sullivan said.
During cross-examination, police prosecutor Robert Shepherd asked Sullivan if it was fair to say he was verbally abusive towards the woman.
"I don't think I was there for very long to be abusive, and if I was abusive, that's her fault for parking in my driveway," Sullivan said.
Mr Marron said while he was sure the woman parking across the driveway would have upset and frustrated Sullivan, throwing gravel at the car was not the way to deal with it.
"The act of throwing the gravel at the vehicle, in my view, constitutes the offence of injuring property," Mr Marron said.
Sullivan was convicted and fined $700. A $650 compensation order for the victim was made to cover her insurance excess.