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The usually quiet streets of Claremont – an affluent and leafy suburb between the coast and the river in Perth’s west – were filled, if briefly, by an almighty yelling.
Two neighbours, both well-to-do professions, were close to blows outside their million-dollar strata complex in a row over a parking spot.
It was the culmination of a months-long argument that ended with one woman waving a knife, or a ruler – depending on who you asked – at the other.
West Australian architect Louise St John Kennedy, 74, was arrested and charged by police after the incident in May 2024 during which it was claimed she assaulted her 81-year-old neighbour, rheumatologist Dr Prudence Manners.
The protracted trial revealed a months-long dispute between the women that played out in text messages and ended in the driveway confrontation.
Now, with Kennedy found not guilty of being armed or pretending to be armed in a way that may cause fear and common assault, footage of the confrontation and heated messages between the pair were release by the court this week.
Shared driveway sparks strata stand-off
The saga began when Manners moved into the Chester Road property at the start of 2024 – a property that award-winning architect Kennedy had designed herself.
Kennedy later sold off four of the $2 million homes and kept one for herself and subsequently helped draw up the property’s strata by-laws.
One of them was about parking on a shared driveway and a sign was erected to the effect.
But Manners repeatedly parked in the no-go area, irking her neighbours – or at least, one neighbour in particular.
The first time Kennedy asked her politely to move the car was in February 2024.
During the following month, Manners had blocked the driveway five more times and messages showed that while it was clear Kennedy was becoming exasperated at being unable to use her car, she did try and strike up a friendship to smooth things over.
Still, the older lady kept parking in the no-go zone.
After one text exchange between the women, the doctor offered to show the architect how to back her vehicle out around her car.
Kennedy declined the driving lesson and told Manners she was missing the point before Manners went on to again park illegally, and then told Kennedy the car had a flat battery and couldn’t be moved until help arrived.
“Prue, after numerous polite requests for you to not park in the signed No Parking body corp area I’m again blocked in by your thoughtless parking,” Manners wrote in the days before the pair came to blows.
“Are you completely stupid or just incredibly thoughtless or both.
“Stop saying there’s room to get around a parked car and use your common sense and understand why that is both wrong and ignorant … and very f---ing frustrating.
“It is NO PARKING. This is my very last warning. Take this seriously. Louise.”
A vet trip sparks a confrontation that ends up in court
Days later, Kennedy needed to get her sick dog to the vet in an emergency but couldn’t get out of the driveway due to Manners’ parking.
What happened next was caught on camera by a neighbour.
Kennedy can be heard raging at the 81-year-old, saying: “Move your car you f---ing dumb bitch.”
She was also seen waving something around in her hand. Kennedy said it was an architect’s angle-finder ruler. Manners claimed it was a large kitchen knife.
Manners also alleged Kennedy grabbed her around the neck and pushed her, which was not caught on camera.
In response, Kennedy claims Manners shouted to her, “hope the dog dies, Louise”, which led her to “momentarily lose control”.
She admitted yelling profanities but was adamant she did not hit the woman and was never holding a knife.
Despite that she was charged with being armed or pretending to be armed in a way that may cause fear and common assault, which she pleaded not guilty to and represented herself in a drawn-out trial that began at the end of 2024 and ended last week in Perth Magistrates Court.
Kennedy was exonerated with a not guilty verdict.
Magistrate Lynette Dias called the doctor’s text messages “gaslighting” and said her 74-year-old neighbour momentarily lost self-control in a “final straw” event.
Dias said the architect had been “provoked” and that she saw no evidence of a knife being used in the argument.
She added that the doctor was “not a reliable witness”, as she had given contradictory evidence and at one point had to review courtroom footage as claims were made that she was being “coached” on the witness stand by her daughter.
After the not-guilty verdict, Kennedy said she would also be fighting a restraining order the older woman had placed on her.
“I was always confident of my side of the story and that justice would be done once that came out, and it was,” Kennedy told 9News Perth.
But Kennedy claims that, despite intervention from the police and the court, Manners continues to block the pair’s shared driveway.
“We’ve all been through a difficult process, Dr Manners, her family, and I hope we’ve got it in our hearts that we can live together peacefully now,” Kennedy said.
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