A jury has decided a man accused of assaulting his neighbour with a weedeater did not commit the crime, reaching a unanimous verdict after a three-day trial.

Lance Andrew Kennedy, 71, has been on trial before Judge John McDonald at the Whangārei District Court for one charge of injuring with intent to injure in relation to an incident with his neighbour across the drive in April 2020.

On that day Grant Tromp and a friend Tony Goddard were weedeating cutty grass on a shared verge within the exclusive gated community of Lawson Drive in Tūtūkākā.

Kennedy approached the pair but what happened next was what the jury had to decide.

Tromp gave evidence on day one of the trial that Kennedy came at him aggressively, pulled the weedeater from him then hit him across the face, knocking him unconscious.

He said he had played percussion for years around the world and he no longer enjoyed the sound of a cymbal as a result of the incident.

“That was just a side effect of the trauma,” Tromp told the jury.

The jury was made aware of a previous assault Tromp had been involved in with another Lawson Drive neighbour, Jeremy McGuiness, which Tromp denied.

• Neighbours at war: Who whacked whom with the weedeater?

Lance Kennedy was charged with assaulting his neighbour, Grant Tromp. Photo / Tania Whyte

On day two of the trial, Kennedy gave evidence that he took a photo of Tromp and his associate Goddard weedeating in an area, he believed, needed consent from other landowners.

Kennedy said Tromp said he was merely protecting himself as Tromp came at him aggressively with the weedeater.

He told the court Tromp had raised the weedeater in the air and as it came down, Kennedy caught the shaft of the machine and Tromp lost control, knocking himself in the face.

“He was screaming and swung the weedeater up into a position to hit me over the head,” Kennedy said.

“I started walking backwards but he was charging after me throwing massive punches at my face.

“I’m not sure what punches connected, I know I received some to the face because when the assault was over, I was bleeding.

 “He fell back, lying on his back for a matter of a few seconds then he climbed back up and charged at me once more with his fists by his face,” Kennedy said in his evidence to the jury.

Both men produced photos of injuries from the altercation but in the end the jury took three hours to return a not guilty verdict and Kennedy was discharged.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.