A TEENAGER threatened to kill a woman while waving a metal bar during a feud between two warring neighbouring families.
A mother feared Robert Collins would strike her with the weapon during a nasty fracas in a Gwent Valleys town.
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Rhodri Jones, prosecuting, told how the violence had flared on Lewis Street in Aberbargoed, Caerphilly, last autumn.
He read a victim’s statement which said: “He (Collins) threatened to kill me and was waving a metal bar.
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“I honestly thought he was going to hit me with it. My children were screaming. I was terrified.”
Judge Geraint Walters told Cardiff Crown Court: “I wouldn’t want to be living on that street.”
Collins, 19, of Lewis Street, Aberbargoed, pleaded guilty to affray.
The offence was committed on November 9, 2020.
Andrew Taylor, representing the defendant, said in mitigation how his client was a man of previous good character with no convictions recorded against him.
He added: “There is a long-running open sore between two families and nobody comes out of this with very great credit.
“The defendant abuses cannabis and it has to stop.
“He wants to put this memory behind him as quickly as possible.”
Judge Walters told Collins: “Behaviour of this sort is not acceptable with neighbours squabbling.
“The public have the right to be protected.
“As I said earlier, who’d want to live in that street?
“Children, older people, anyone not involved in this feud, have a right to be protected.”
The judge told Collins to give up smoking cannabis: “It is not a drug without consequences.
“It can be the start of serious mental health problems in some individuals.
“Cannabis can play tricks with the mind and people need to recognise that.”
The unemployed Collins was sentenced to an 18-month community order.
He must carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and complete 19 sessions of a thinking skills programme.
The defendant was made the subject of a two-year restraining order and has to pay a £95 surcharge.
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