'Six months of torture': Noisy neighbour who played 'booming' music granted bail

For one street in Holt, "it's been an awful six months of sound torture".

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Since April, the windows have been rattling. Distant bass has been pounding through the walls. The family dogs have been barking and running away.

A 40-year-old woman living on the street was arrested on Thursday, October 22, after multiple noise complaints were made about her property over a six-month period.

Police seized 26 speakers in the property during the arrest.

"It's loud, booming music, all the time," said one resident, who preferred to remain anonymous for safety reasons. "It's mixed in with animal mating sounds, like pigs squealing."

Another resident said the music is constantly offensive, with inappropriate language which has occasionally been edited into the music using artificial intelligence.

A 40-year-old woman living on the street was arrested on Thursday, October 22, after multiple noise complaints were made about her property over a six-month period. Picture via YouTube

"She plays music for 10 hours, or she plays it at 3am, starting it up again at 6.30am. Sometimes she plays the same song over and over again."

"It's put us in constant 'fight or flight' response."

Live-streamed visits

The woman was visited by police 77 times before the arrest was made. She has also been visited by officers of the Environment Protection Agency and a number of her neighbours, all begging for the music to be turned down.

The woman has been live streaming these visits on her public YouTube channel.

Many of the videos feature verbal tirades between the visitors and the woman, who repeatedly uses obscene language and yells "get off my porch" through a microphone attached to multiple speakers.

Other videos show a number of Australian Federal Police officers standing outside the door. Multiple times in October, officers arrived to request the music be turned down as the woman called an ambulance to arrive at the scene as well.

She has repeatedly called police officers "AFPigs" on the channel; on other occasions, she called the police in response to neighbours protesting at her door.

In the videos, the woman repeatedly called attention to her health, stating that she has a condition exacerbated by the presence of police and neighbours on her property.

She has said that the reason for the music is that the reverberations from the music calm the symptoms of her condition, which include a high heart rate and affected breathing.

'Can't go home'

For her neighbours, the music has affected "every aspect of family life".

Many families have considered moving out of their homes because of the noise. "We can't open our windows... or enjoy outside hobbies or gardening."

"My husband can't work from home anymore," said one neighbour, who also preferred to remain anonymous. "If he does, the music penetrates noise-cancelling headphones, and his colleagues can hear it in online meetings."

Her 11-year-old son with ADHD "cries himself to sleep... from the constant overstimulation". His brother, a year 12 student, struggles to study for his final exams, and prefers to stay at libraries. The children don't feel comfortable inviting friends over.

"You feel like you can't go home... we're all tired and snappy at each other all the time."

The woman was granted bail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday, October 23.

According to her YouTube channel, her bail states that the music cannot be louder than 45 decibels from 7am to 10pm, and 35 decibels from 10pm to 7am.

"Hate to admit it - 100% NO JOKE - I would RATHER GET ARRESTED AGAIN than be kidnapped by PACER / HAART," she wrote, referring to ACT paramedic and mental health services Police Ambulance and Clinician Early Response (PACER) and Home Assessment and Acute Response Team (HAART).

She is set to appear in court again in November.

Her neighbours fear that she will buy more speakers and continue to play the music in the meantime.

"We don't think this is finished yet," one said. "Not by a long shot."

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