Resident ‘attcked’ in noise row
The scene where an incident erupted alongside the roses in this Hillcrest Heritage Market gazebo when an irate and frustrated resident of a nearby house took matters into his own hands to try to quieten a 'noisy' reggae band playing there. The scene where an incident erupted alongside the roses in this Hillcrest Heritage Market gazebo when an irate and frustrated resident of a nearby house took matters into his own hands to try to quieten a 'noisy' reggae band playing there.
A Hillcrest man claims he was attacked when – irate at having his peace and quiet disturbed by the pounding music of a live band in the Heritage Market – he went to the centre and tried to stop the “noise”.
He said he was attacked by an angry woman who “hit” him twice in his chest when he tried in desperation to unplug the band’s sound system, while others at the scene adopted a threatening attitude.
“They were aggressively climbing into me when five or six security guys came and stood between us,” he said.
The man, who lives close to the centre, told his story to the Daily News on condition of anonymity, saying he feared his family might become victims of retaliation if he were to be identified.
He said there had been unpleasant incidents in the past after he and others in the area had complained about loud music and other excessive noise from the centre’s pubs and restaurants.
“On Saturday we came home at about 3.30pm and the noise from the centre was intense. I found it was coming from that gazebo place in the Heritage Market.”
He went to the gazebo where he found a reggae band playing as part of a “community event” of some kind.
“I spoke to a woman there and asked her to put the music softer. She said the music would end at 4.30pm.”
It did end as promised, he said, but shortly afterwards it started up again. “That is when I went over there and went straight up to the band and started unplugging the sound system,” he said.
He said for years there had been “noise problems” at the Heritage Market and he blamed the police for failing to enforce the municipal by-laws.
“So companies like Growthpoint (the administrators of the centre) are able to totally ignore the local community.”
Growthpoint marketing manager Elizabeth Longbottom said she was aware of the incident, although she was not there at the time.
“One of our tenants held a creative arts day, with a lot of artists from this area, and the last event was a reggae band,” she said.
Longbottom said talent of all kinds had been on show and much of the earlier programme had probably involved silent displays or even poetry readings.
But when the band played there had been an incident involving a local resident. “It was resolved by our centre security.” She apologised for any upset it might have caused. It might be necessary in future to review the type of participants taking part in such events.
The incident led to a meeting of some residents who are concerned about noise levels at the centre. However, all previous calls for remedial action to be taken at the centre have been largely ignored.