Drunk grandfather urinated on woman’s bins while calling her a ‘lesbian b*****d’ in terrifying hour-long ordeal
(Stock photograph via Elements Envato)
A grandfather hurled homophobic abuse at his neighbour for an hour and urinated on her bins – all because she asked him to keep the noise down.
Craig Tagoe, 57, called the woman a “lesbian b*****d” and urinated on wheelie bins outside her flat while making direct eye contact with her, according to the Liverpool Echo.
The victim was left cowering in fear, forced to barricade her door with a cabinet as Tagoe banged furiously on her door.
Prosecutors explained how the woman lived in the same block of flats as Tagoe, who didn’t have his keys on him at the time, in Walton, England.
“There had been problems with noise coming from Mr Tagoe’s flat in the past, as a result of which the complainant had cause to speak to him about reducing that noise,” said Neil Bisarya, prosecuting.
On the evening of 25 June, the woman was idly watching TV at home when she “heard a disturbance coming from outside”.
Looking out the window at 7:45pm, she saw the defendant “standing directly below her flat window shouting towards her”.
Then the abuse started. Tagoe “called her a w*****r” and stuck his middle finger at her. He then “thrust his hips in what appeared to be a sexual motion” which “led to her being alarmed”.
“Come downstairs”, he shouted, calling on her to “open the door”.
The neighbour, alarmed and unsettled, leapt to call the police. But when Tagoe realised this, he started to film her on his mobile phone.
He screamed and shouted as he then tried to burst into the communal flats. “It continued to put her in fear as she was unaware as to why he was so eager for her to come down,” Bisarya said.
After he urinated on the wheelie bins in the complex, he barked “lesbian b*****d” at the woman. The slur made her feel “targeted” and “really upset”.
He later managed to get into the complex, banged on her door and shouted “open the door you lesbian c**t” as the woman pushed a cabinet up against the door.
The incident lasted one hour, the woman said.
Police later arrested Tagoe and said in a statement that the scuffle “was all down to her being out to get him due to the noise coming from his flat”.
He had left his keys in his car, he claimed, and needed to get into the block.
Bisarya added that the woman has since moved homes and now lives with anxiety. She had to move, he said, because living in the same complex as the defendant made her feel “vulnerable, upset and threatened”.
Tagoe admitted threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm or distress.
David Birrell, defending, told the court that his “remorseful” client “accepted full responsibility” for the incident. He is “ashamed” of his “behaviour”.
He explained that Tagoe was “generally law-abiding” – he has more than 20 previous convictions – and is “well regarded”. But Tagoe does “occasional drink and drinks to excess and behaves badly”.
“Were it not for drink, I suspect this would not have happened,” Birrell said.
Nevertheless, judge Swinnerton brushed off the defence. Tagoe’s rap sheet was one “punctuated by episodes of very bad behaviour”, he said, “which I strongly suspect are connected to your alcohol abuse”.
In 2012 and 2015, Tagoe was convicted of racially aggravated harassment.
“You say your daughter is gay,” Swinnerton added. “If that is right you owe her an apology.
“I imagine if she knew what he was saying she would be ashamed, upset and angry.”
Swinnerton handed Tagoe down a five months sentence suspended for 18 months. He must also complete 250 hours of unpaid and 25 days of Rehabilitation Activity Requirements.
Tagoe must also wear a tag that detects alcohol intake and complete 90 days of the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement.
