Neighbour's finger bitten off in lawnmower row

Beatrice Manumua. Photo / Northern Advocate

A dispute over a lawnmower ended with a Northland woman biting her neighbour's finger off.

Details of the bizarre confrontation between Donna Gillie and Beatrice Manumua emerged in the Whangarei District Court on Friday where Gillie pleaded guilty to a charge of assault.

The two women live two doors from each other in a cul-de-sac off Smeaton Drive, in Raumanga, Whangarei.

But the two women have barely acknowledged each other over the last seven months after Gillie bit off Mrs Manumua's pinkie finger on February 27 - two days before Mrs Manumua's 60th birthday.

The neighbours have a history of conflict but it was a request by Gillie to use Mrs Manumua's lawnmower that sparked the finger-biting fiasco.

According to Mrs Manumua, she refused to loan the lawnmower.

She admits she had been drinking and hit Gillie because "she wouldn't leave".

But the next thing she can remember is pain shooting through her hand as Gillie chomped off the tip of her little finger on her left hand.

"My finger was jagged and yucky looking. She bit it off and just spat it out on the grass.

"Blood was pouring out everywhere."

The fingertip was recovered, put on ice in a child's lunchbox and taken by Mrs Manumua in the ambulance to Whangarei hospital.

Medical staff wanted to sew the finger back on but she refused, saying the finger was already turning black.

The following day surgeons amputated the finger at the next knuckle and inserted 10 stitches. The finger remained bandaged until about May. The stump that is left hurts if it is knocked.

"I'm pretty self-conscious about it because it's damn ugly," Mrs Manumua said.

Yesterday in the Whangarei District Court, police withdrew a charge of wounding with intent to injure and laid a charge of assault to which Gillie pleaded guilty.

Judge Simon Maude said Gillie was initially not the aggressor and she had been chased up the driveway and grabbed from behind by Mrs Manumua.

He noted Gillie had an extensive criminal record and was serving 12 months' supervision which was to finish next April.

Gillie was convicted and ordered to come up for sentencing if called upon in the next six months.

After her court appearance Gillie, a mother of a 2-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter, said she was moving out of her home before she experienced any more trouble.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE