Door smashed with an axe in loud music row

A DISPUTE over loud music led a man to take an axe to his neighbour's flat and threaten to kill him, a court has heard.

- JASON EVANS Court and crime reporter

Dean Williams smashed up his neighbour's front door with the weapon and told him to come out of the property to face him.

Swansea Crown Court heard there had been ongoing issues about the noise coming from Williams’ flat, and that the night before the attack the victim had been unable to get any sleep because of the volume of the music.

The victim later said he had been “terrified” for some time that something was going to happen and had just been waiting for it.

Sian Cutter, prosecuting, told the court that the victim in the case lived in the flat above Williams in the Sandfields area of Port Talbot, and that “for some” he had been having problems with loud music coming from the defendant's flat.

She said on the night of April 21 this year the complainant had been unable to sleep due to the volume of the music coming from his neighbour's property and the following day had made a complaint.

The court heard that on the evening of the 22nd Williams returned home and seemed to have learned that a complaint had been made. The defendant was heard shouting “Who? Him upstairs? I'll kill him” before storming up the stairs.