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| Court Date: Peter & Joanne Barkatullah |
Peter Barkatullah, 59, claimed mother-of-four Mihaela Cavallaro broke community rules by running her floral business from her garage and also objected to her children playing in front of her £1.8m house.
The pair were next-door neighbours at St. Ann’s Park, Virginia Water and she called the police when confronted by an angry Barkatullah outside her home on May 24, 2022.
“We ended up moving out of there,” she told Staines-upon-Thames Magistrates’ Court. “He went to our estate agents to have us kicked out, saying we were trash.
“I was a renter and that bothered him deeply because he is an owner. I didn’t belong in this country and my kind of people didn’t belong in this country, but I’m not an illegal. I came here with papers.”
Her three youngest children, aged eight, six and two were playing in a coned-off area in front of her house when Barkatullah stopped his car.
“He said that it was not a playground and children should not be there and that I should move the cones, but there is nothing in the rules that says no cones are allowed.”
The row continued on the driveway of Barkatullah’s £1.7m house. “He said: ‘Get the f*** out of my property,’ and tried to hit me and came at me with a fist.
“He told me to go back to my country. I don’t need this hate, it had been going on for two years,” Mrs Cavallaro - known in the community as ‘Mela’ - told the trial.
“He said: ‘You don’t belong here,’ and I can’t believe anyone would say that, this is a good neighbourhood.”
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| Mihaela 'Mela' Cavallaro |
She denied going to the police in retaliation to Barkatullah’s numerous complaints against her.
“It is a tight community and I just wanted to be left alone to live in that property.”
She told the court Barkatullah’s behaviour was not exemplary, despite his complaints against her. “He drives his car too fast and too loud and has a lot of clients at his house.
“I was not running a business from my house, it was a hobby and I was volunteering and doing a lot for charity and I do not bother the neighbours.”
However, the original 999 emergency call was played in court and Mrs Cavallaro failed to report she was under threat of physical attack from Barkatullah or told by him to return to her home country.
The 6.00pm row was witnessed by the Chairman of the estate’s management company Derek Holden, who told the trial: “I heard a commotion and saw the defendant in his car. He had stopped opposite the home of Mela.
“I heard shouting and angry voices. He was clearly angry, but I have good soundproofing so I have no evidence of exactly what was said.
“He was shouting at Mela and a group of small children and they were shouting back and several of the children were crying.
“His wife came out and ushered him away. He was in no way physically aggressive.”
Mr Holden’s wife Dorian told the trial: “Mela has charming, lovely children and me and my wife have great respect for her.
“We heard shouting and very loud noises and our neighbour was out there with her children playing and another neighbour was shouting at her and she was shouting at him.
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| Neighbours: Dorian & Derek Holden |
“It was again very angry and he had his hands up as if he might do something, but his wife came out and restrained him.
“Both me and my husband were afraid he may lay hands on her or strike her because he was so furious.
“She was visibly very, very upset and her children were crying.
“He did not like the children being outside with their toys. He disagreed with that.”
Barkatullah, supported by wife Joanne, 53, was found not guilty of both racially-aggravated assault and racially-aggravated harassment and awarded his defence costs from central funds.
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