Ban this man from our town, demands 'scared stiff' harassment victim
A NEW MILTON businesswoman is demanding a man she claims has kept up a daily campaign of harassment is banned from the town after he was found guilty of throwing a pair of scissors at her.
Annette Hunter says she is “scared stiff” of what David Channell will do next after he was convicted at Southampton Magistrates’ Court this week of two counts of using threatening and abusive words and behaviour towards her.
Channell was found guilty in his absence after failing to turn up for the case and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.
Talking to the A&T, Ms Hunter, who runs the New Miltan sun tanning salon at the top of Station Road, said: “I feel like a sitting duck. I’m a single parent just trying to run a business but feel I can’t protect myself or the salon.
“After he was arrested in December for throwing the scissors at me he was ordered to stay 50 metres away from the salon. But practically every day he has walked past either swearing at me, throwing things at the shop or throwing V-signs at the CCTV cameras I have.
“It has been so intimidating and frightening. I am scared stiff, to be honest, of what he will do next. I want him banned from the town, he is a complete nuisance and is terrifying not just me but lots of other people too.
“He doesn’t seem to care about the police, nothing seems to stop him. We just need him gone for the sake of people who live here, so we can feel safe again.”
Ms Hunter was one of a group of business owners in the town who told the A&T earlier this year how they were having to suffer drunken, threatening and abusive behaviour from a group of homeless beggars.
Along with 30 traders, she signed a petition for action to be taken against them by New Forest District Council and the police.
But she says little has been done and to her horror has now discovered that Channell (52), who was homeless at the time of the offences, has recently been given a council flat in New Milton.
She said: “He needs to be banned from the town, not given a lovely, new home here. It’s not just me who is scared of him, he is intimidating lots of business owners and residents.
“The authorities and people, including me, have tried to help him but he is beyond hope, unfortunately. A lot of people have told me they are frightened of him.
“Even last Thursday he was scaring elderly customers in a café so badly by his behaviour outside they wouldn’t leave until he had gone.
“I am now calling on the mayor and the council to ban him from New Milton. The flat he has been given is not that far from my shop, how do you think that makes me feel?”
Dramatic CCTV images exclusively obtained by the A&T show the incident that led to his arrest on 6th December last year. Channell can be seen abusing and threatening Ms Hunter before throwing the pair of scissors at her.
Later images taken on the same evening show him pushing a police officer who is arresting him before sticking two fingers up at the CCTV camera.
At Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Monday Ms Hunter told how she had suffered constant harassment from Channell in the months leading up to the night.
She said the defendant had often sworn at her and customers inside and outside of her salon.
On 6th December at around 4.30pm she noticed him sitting on a bench which she had installed in front of her salon for customers to wait on.
She saw him fall onto the floor and heard him bang his head loudly. She told the court how she went to his aid fearing he had hurt himself.
She said: “He lay there motionless and wasn’t with it.
“About three or four times he shouted, ‘Leave me the f*** alone!’”
Ms Hunter said two young girls also went to his aid but he asked them for money and cigarettes so they left him. She said Channell laid back on the bench shouting that she was “harassing” him.
He then stormed into her salon and screamed at her: “Wipe that f***ing smug look off your face!”
She added: “He was very aggressive, there were customers inside my shop, and my 17-year-old daughter. Outside he was walking constantly back and forth, waving his arms screaming at me.”
She said she went outside to sit on her bench hoping it would make Channell go away but instead he became angrier.
Ms Hunter, who sports a punk hairstyle, told magistrates: “I could see he had a pair of red-handled scissors in his hand which could be seen as an offensive weapon. He shouted, ‘You can f***ing buy these scissors from Tesco. Your hair is more offensive than these scissors!’
“He then threw them at me screaming ‘Use these to cut your f***ing hair’.”
A passer-by told her there were police officers at the nearby railway station so her daughter went to fetch them. She said as Channell was being arrested he continued shouting and swearing at her through the shop window.
Customer Lisa Murphy, who had been in the salon when the incident happened, said she heard the defendant shouting and swearing at Ms Hunter after the salon owner had asked him to leave the outside of her shop.
She said: “He was really, really shouting. Really, really aggressive.”
Ms Murphy said she went to use a tanning bed and when she came out 12 minutes later she found Ms Hunter was crying and Channell in handcuffs outside.
She said: “I was really anxious, I just wanted to leave but felt too frightened”.
In a statement to police Channell claimed he had the scissors on him because he made ashtrays from tin cans which he sold to supplement his benefits.
He denied using any “colourful” language but said he did not want to make any further statements without a lawyer being present.
After hearing the evidence, magistrates found Channell guilty on both charges. Chief magistrate Nick Hawkins said a warrant not backed for bail would be issued, adding: “These are two separate incidents that ought to be sentenced as such.”
Speaking to the A&T, Ms Hunter said she feared that although Channell had been found guilty of the charges, they were not serious enough for him to be jailed.
She said: “I think he will be right back here giving me grief as soon as he can. There is a restraining order against him not to approach me or come near the salon, but going on past experience he will just ignore it.
“I’m in despair really. Every day I arrive at the salon worrying that damage has been done to it. I am also worried about him scaring away customers. It cost me £500 to install the CCTV.
“It’s just a constant battle with him. I don’t know how many times I have rung the police. Sometimes it takes them 40 minutes to get here, he could do anything in that time.”
The owner of the café where Channell was scaring customers on Thursday said she saw him on Monday when he was supposed to be at court.
She said: “He’s been a constant nuisance to us. On Thursday he was being rude and abusive and customers could hear it all. There was a group of others with him acting like it, too.
“At one point Dave was stamping around the flower beds screaming abuse. Some of the elderly people were too frightened to leave. His and the group’s behaviour has become a major issue. I worry what I am going to find when I arrive at 7am to open up. It’s scary if they are loitering about.
“Something has to be done, we all pay business rates and it’s not fair that we are having to put up with this.
“At least if they banned Dave from the town it would send a message to the others that they can’t carry on behaving like they do.”
