A COUPLE forced to endure five months without sleep due to barking dogs outside their home have been forced to sell up, slamming the authorities for failing to take action against the dogs’ owner, claiming his contacts in high places have granted his immunity from prosecution.
Toulla Bale told the Mail that the situation became so unbearable that she resorted to taking anti-depressants to cope.
“We bought the four-bedroom detached house in Dhali two years ago to escape from a similar situation that we were in previously,” she said. “We were living in a semi-detached property in Yeri, but there were seven people living next door to us, with only one thin wall separating the properties. We could hear doors slamming at 2am, as well as constant noise from children.”
Upon moving into their new home, Bale and her husband were kept awake by the constant barking of three dogs, kept in the back garden of a neighbour’s property, located directly opposite their home.
“It could start from 1am onwards, with a lull at 4am, followed by more barking at 6am when people started getting up for work,” Bale explained.
“At first, we thought the owner, a man with influence, was away for the Easter holidays, so we called the police, who instructed him to keep the animals in his basement.”
Quiet ensued for the next few days, before the dogs reappeared in the garden, to the Bales’ horror.
“I spoke with another neighbour about the situation, and he told me that the dogs’ owner was so incensed that the police had been called, that he vowed to keep the Bales awake out of sheer spite.
“Apparently, the owner confessed to having health problems, which stopped him from sleeping, meaning the barking did not disturb him.
“We had no alternative but to call the police again, but when they discovered the identity of the owner and that he has friends in high places, they started stalling, saying there was nothing they could do and advised us to contact the Municipality,” Bale said. “One officer seemed to sympathise with us, even suggesting poisoning the dogs to end the matter, but we are animal-lovers and couldn’t bring ourselves to do it.
Another said it was impossible to stop a dog from barking.”
After more than 15 unsatisfactory complaints to the police, the couple were frantic and contacted the Municipality, only again to face apathy.
“For our own sanity, we decided that enough was enough and moved out after only two years. We are extremely upset that the law did nothing to help us solve the problem.”
Dhali Municipality’s Health Inspector, Panayiotis Harpas denied Bale’s claims though, saying that the Municipality had inspected the area where the dogs were being kept, and after consulting with their lawyer, decided not to take the matter to court.
He added that Bale’s case would have been helped if other neighbours had also made written complaints.
“The gentleman in question is in possession of all the necessary licences and the dogs are being well looked after in a clean area,” he said.
“However, we did send him a warning letter, instructing him to keep the noise down and to move the dogs indoors during night hours. For us to take legal action against him, it had to be proved that the barking was continuous during the night. Unfortunately, this is very difficult.”
But Bale poured scorn on Harpas’ claims, saying a letter sent to the Municipality included the signatures of two other neighbours unhappy with the barking.
“Now that the media have been contacted, the authorities have become worried and are trying to fob us all off,” she said.
When asked to comment, the police refrained from doing so, “until we have looked into the exact details of this case which goes back two years.”
