What to do if You're a Victim of a Neighbour's Violence

Most disputes between neighbours can usually be resolved between each other and even if things might have got a bit heated, there will, more often than not, be a solution or compromise which can be agreed to by both parties once the dust has settled.

Although disputes between neighbours can sometimes occur, the police will not normally get involved unless a crime has been committed or a situation has escalated to the point where a crime is likely to occur as the result of the dispute.

On rare occasions, however, tempers can become frayed to such an extent that one neighbour may lose their self control and become violent which could result in a physical assault. Alternatively, in very extreme circumstances, an attack can occur ‘out of the blue’ and can be apparently unprovoked.

What You Should Do If You Are Physically Attacked By A Neighbour

If you find yourself in a position where you are being attacked by a neighbour, your immediate thoughts should be of making as much noise as possible to alert other neighbours close by who might be able to come to your assistance. Defending yourself to avoid serious injury is also a priority and it will very much be a judgement call on your part as to whether fighting back is the right thing to do. However, the most important aspect you need to concern yourself with is getting to safety and away from the attacker.

Calling The Police

Once any assault is over, call the police. Obviously, in doing this, you need to ensure that you’re satisfied that you want to get the police involved. If the violence was relatively minor or you’ve reason to believe there were mitigating circumstances as to why a violent assault took place – your neighbour being drunk, for example, or it being so ‘out of character’ of your neighbour that it may be you decide to leave the police out of the situation for the time being and wait until things have settled down sufficiently enough for you to go and discuss the situation with your neighbour in a calmer, more rational manner.

That said, you should also bear in mind that an assault is a crime, no matter what the circumstances are, so you should never feel the slightest bit of guilt in calling the police if you have been the victim of a neighbour’s violence if that’s the decision you choose to make.

Seek Treatment If Needed

If the violence necessitates you needing hospital treatment, go to the hospital straight away or have someone take you there. If you decide to press charges later, the more evidence there is that an assault has taken place in terms of medical records and, perhaps, photographic evidence of the nature of your injuries, the better it will be if you later decide to take the matter to court. If you don't need to seek treatment but still wish to press charges, you'll need to call the police anyway who may also wish to take any photographs which might help in securing a conviction later.

Getting Counselling

Some people can be so shocked and traumatised as a result of being physically attacked and, especially by someone whom they know and who lives close by, that they may need counselling later. Therefore, once you’ve physically recovered from any attack, this is something you might wish to consider.

Being attacked by a neighbour is, thankfully, quite rare but it does happen from time to time and it’s therefore important to understand that, for the most part, these kind of physical assaults are often preventable if you think about how to approach any disputes or disagreements you might become engaged with in the first place.

Neighbour on neighbour violence is more often provoked by both sides becoming very heated about a situation to the point where neither side is willing to compromise or to walk away when a dispute threatens to get out of hand. Therefore, it’s always better to try to calmly and rationally discuss any differences and to try and reach a compromise before a war of words ensues which can then bubble over into a violent attack or to walk away and to say that you’ll come back and discuss things another time when both of you have calmed down sufficiently enough for a civilised discussion about matters can be held.