Pensioner 'threatened to cast spell on family' » Communities » 24dash.com

A pensioner accused of verbally abusing neighbours and breaching an Asbo told a young girl that she was a witch, a court heard today.

Dorothy Evans, 81, of Abergavenny, South Wales, who faces two charges of harassing neighbours and six charges of breaching an Asbo, told the 13-year-old that she would cast a spell on her family.

The girl's mother, Angela Casa, who lives next to Evans in Park Crescent, told Cardiff Crown Court her daughter now wears a cross and chain around her neck because of the pensioner's comments.

 Evans, who denies all charges, is alleged to have shouted abuse at Mrs Casa and her husband Roberto, between January and June 2006, calling the woman a prostitute and telling the man to go back to Italy.

Giving evidence today, Mrs Casa said her family had feared she would have a nervous breakdown, and that her doctor had wanted to give her antidepressants, because of Evans' behaviour.

The Casa family moved into their three-bedroom, semi-detached house in November 2004.

Mrs Casa said there were no problems for the first year, but in December 2005 there was a disagreement over a boundary wall separating their houses, which Evans wanted to remove stones from. She said from that point on, Evans became abusive.

The jury of seven men and five women were told the neighbours then had arguments over a lorry delivering paving stones to the Casas' house.

Mrs Casa said: "Mrs Evans was shouting abuse through the window, saying that we had paid a company to park near to the tree and destroy the tree with fumes."

She said that on that occasion Evans called another neighbour "a jezebel and a prostitute", insults she claims the pensioner has also directed at her.

The court heard that disputes had also arisen over Mrs Casa parking her car outside her own driveway. Mrs Casa said Evans had blocked her car in, and also attempted to drive into it on several occasions.

She said Evans always used bad language towards her, once calling her a "slut" because she was sat on the front doorstep of her home, and that her children had often been present when the abuse took place.

When asked by prosecuting barrister Phillip Morris what effect the incidents had had on her, Mrs Casa said she had developed a rash, and
added: "I'm on sleeping tablets at the moment. When I lie in bed at night I'm thinking different things. I don't get lots of sleep.

"It has affected my daughter badly. She sleeps in my bed most nights when my husband is away."

Mrs Casa, who has CCTV installed at her house to record Evans' behaviour, said the girl had been threatened on "numerous occasions" and that Evans had told her she would have her pet Jack Russell destroyed.

Under cross examination from David Webster, defending, Mrs Casa said if she could find someone to buy the house, she would "move tomorrow".

She admitted saying she wished Evans was "six feet under", but added: "The only time I made that comment was when she had hit me with a walking stick, and I had a red line down my face."

Copyright Press Association 2007.