It was December 17, 1987, and a 42-year-old Eastman was living in a nondescript flat, tucked away amongst the townhouses, garden units, and maisonettes of the Jerilderie Court public housing block in Reid.

The public servant and another man, Andrew Peter Russo, were both long-term residents at the tightly-spaced complex.

That day, the pair became involved in a heated dispute, which Russo said was sparked by his mother parking her car in Eastman's spot.

Blows were exchanged and both suffered minor injuries.

Eastman went straight to police to make a complaint, and officers began to investigate.

But when they heard Russo's side of the story, and spoke to other witnesses, they turned the tables on Eastman.

He himself was charged with assault, a move that infuriated him, and set him on a long campaign to have the charge dropped and convince police of the dangers that Russo, who owned a shotgun, posed.

Eastman was desperate to beat the charge.

It threatened to prevent him getting back into the public service, something he'd been trying to do for some time.

Eastman told police his neighbour was trying to bring in a pistol from Australia illegally along with a friend in Foreign Affairs. He told them Russo was a homosexual.

He even told them Russo's brother, who he said was a police officer, was influencing their investigation.

The prosecution said he developed an "intense hatred of police", and he frequently complained of his ill-treatment at their hands.

His doggedness would eventually earn him a meeting with Assistant Federal Police Commissioner for the ACT region Colin Winchester, who also refused to drop the case.

It would also set him squarely in the sights of police when Mr Winchester was shot twice in the head in his neighbour's driveway in January 1989.