Feuding Neighbours Use Rolling Pins and Vacuum Cleaner in Street Fight
Neighbours in Manchester brawled in the street due to a dispute over a conservatory. A mother and grandmother used rolling pins, umbrellas and a vacuum cleaner as weapons, around 20 people were involved in the violent scuffle that halted a dual carriageway.
A mother-of-four was at one point seen beating a man with a part of a vacuum cleaner. The court heard there was a, ‘constant history of bickering’, between mother-of-four Nazia Akhtar, grandmother Zhaida Hussain, relatives and the Ahmed family next door.
The bad blood started when the Ahmeds built a conservatory as part of an extension at the back of their semi-detached home in Levenshulme, Manchester. The neighbours complained the conservatory caused damp in their home, the Ahmeds on the other hand believed their neighbours were jealous of their new property development and both families installed CCTV keep an eye on each other.
During the fight Hussain, 52, rushed in and out of her house ‘gathering weapons’ as the spat moved into the middle of the road. The grandmother threw an umbrella and sticks, one of which just missed a mother with a child, and injured a teenage relative Mohammed Abbas, the court heard.
Akhtar hurled a rolling pin and shoe from her porch before running into the street and throwing a vacuum cleaner attachment, which hit a moving vehicle. The 31-year-old mother then directed her attacks on men from the Ahmed family in the central reservation.
As the fight simmered down eight people from both families were arrested and charged. Recorder Rowena Goode, sentencing, said, ‘The background to this incident was ongoing hostility between two households which had been going on for some time, and apparently related to an extension to one of the houses.’
52-year-old Zhaida Hussain from Burnage, was sentenced to a two-year community order and 120 hours unpaid work. 31-year-old Nazia Akhtar from Longsight, was given a 12-month community order with 140 hours unpaid work and 26-year-old Arshad Mahmood of Levenshulme, received a 12-month community order with 80 hours unpaid work.
All admitted affray whilst Akhtar also confessed to criminal damage.
31-year-old Mohammed Abbas of Levenshulme got a 12-month community order with 60 hours unpaid work. 19-year-old Abrar Ahmed and 21-year-old Waqar Ahmed both of Levenshulme were conditionally discharged for two years. Umar Ahmed of Levenshulme and Mohammed Hassan from Fallowfield, both aged 17, got six-month referral orders. All admitted public order offenses.
