It was a tale of paw and order this week when a court heard how an Enniskillen woman took a baseball bat to her neighbour’s car over their cat fouling in her garden.

Diana Rudden (50), of Cavandale, Enniskillen was convicted of criminal damage, common assault and disorderly behaviour at Enniskillen Magistrates Court about incidents on June 28, 2023.

Police received a 999 call from the victim who stated her neighbour had smashed her car with a baseball bat, damaging windows and wing mirrors.

They told police there had been issues with their neighbour, Rudden, who had been complaining about cats entering her garden.

Rudden had come to the house and following the encounter, the victim heard a loud smashing noise, which was Rudden attacking the car with a baseball bat.

The defendant was arrested and was being taken into custody but police diverted to the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) due to concerns over Rudden’s mental health and alcohol consumption.

It was outside SWAH that Rudden became abusive to the police officers and was further arrested for disorderly behaviour.

Rudden’s barrister, Ciaran Roddy, told the court his client accepted this was an “extremely concerning incident” and that it was “very surprising that she acted in such an egregious way” as she had no record up until this.

Mr. Roddy explained that Rudden had issues with cats fouling in her garden and it was causing her dog some distress and this manifested into “behaviours way over and above anything proportionate”.

He said Rudden accepted she had issues that required dealing with and at the time acted disproportionately.

Concerning the incident at SWAH, Mr. Roddy said it was not as acute an incident as it took place outside the hospital and not inside.

Rudden, Mr. Roddy continued, had shown “considerable insight” into her behaviour and had co-operated fully with probation.

He also asked the court to give her credit for her guilty plea.

District Judge Alana McSorley told Rudden “this was a completely disproportionate action on your behalf” and ordered her to complete 40 hours of community service and an 18-month probation order.

Rudden was also ordered to pay £300 in compensation.