A Canberra police officer was at his wits' end when he impersonated a resident and called the police to complain about noise from his hard-partying neighbours, a jury has heard.
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The phone call from William Stuart Anson Bonner came after months of simmering tensions between the neighbours over loud parties and barking dogs.
But Mr Bonner told the court Wednesday that when he made the phone call his wife and daughter were alone at home while he was at work, and he was freaking out about the dispute escalating.
The Crown contends Mr Bonner, 56, accessed the police database and pretended to be a male resident when he called police on their neighbours’ Halloween party on October 25, 2014.
It’s alleged he falsely claimed a sister in Palmerston could hear the noise, and that Mr Bonner made the call from Civic in an attempt to corroborate his claim of noise.
He told police there were 50 or 100 people at the Nicholls party and that they were drunk and about to drive off in order to escalate the police response, the Crown has suggested.
Mr Bonner has pleaded not guilty to the charge of dishonestly influencing a public official.
He was called to give evidence on Wednesday and told the court how the neighbours had been terrorising his family for months.
They held 24-hour parties, and when the music was silent the dogs, of which Mr Bonner said there were seven, would start up.
Mr Bonner said it got to the stage dog barking sounds were played through the neighbour's stereo.
The noise was debilitating to his wife and his daughter, who was trying to study at university, while he would use sleeping pills to get to sleep only to wake a couple of hours later, he said.
He said they had called police before to complain but it didn't change the neighbour's behaviour.
After one complaint they heard smashing glass, and someone had thrown what looked like brown paint across their freshly painted wall, smashed a bottle and thrown rubbish over the fence.
He said the family would move to his sister's house on the weekends and put the house on the market.
On the day of the alleged offence, Mr Bonner said that when he left home for a shift starting at 4pm there were more than 100 people at the neighbour's Halloween-themed party.
He said the street was clogged with cars and people had been drinking all day. He was worried about the building aggression and simmering contempt from the neighbours.
Mr Bonner, a police officer for 30 years, broke down on the stand as he recalled speaking to his wife at home that night and how she sounded strange.
He said he could hear the neighbours singing their favourite song "F--k you Stu" in the background. Mr Bonner said he was psychologically and emotionally tapped out.
"I was freaking out a bit by this stage," he told the court.
"Because the progression of these people was violence.
"I needed someone to go check they were okay."
He said the purpose of the phone call was not to cause trouble but to check his family was safe.
Police attended and spoke to the neighbours and then left, the court heard.
But Mr Bonner then had another phone call from his wife who told him to get the car back there because there was a man at the front door.
"I guess my worst fears were coming true," he said.
He made another call to police identifying himself and saying his family was being threatened with violence.
They moved out the next day and never returned, the court heard.
Mr Bonner said he was stood down from the police in October 2016.
"Was it the phone call ... that brought your career to an end?" his barrister James Stewart asked.
"Yes," came the reply.
Under cross examination by the Crown, Mr Bonner said the reason he didn't go over to the house himself was because he was in uniform and in a marked police car and the situation would explode.
He admitted making the phone call to police and also admitted lying when, speaking as the neighbour he was impersonating, he told the police that someone had once trashed his car.
He was asked if he had deliberately searched the system for someone of his gender and age.
"You give me far too much credit," he said. "At this stage I was falling apart."
The trial continues.
