A north-west coast man who subjected his neighbors to a loud relentless loop of the song ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ at an ‘ungodly hour’ has been slapped with a fine.
Matthew James Stevens was visited by police at 2:30am on August 11 after receiving a noise complaint from his Saundridge Road neighbors in Cooee.
The court heard that Stevens, who was ‘clearly drunk’ at the time, initially refused to turn the music down and instead threatened to turn it up, according to The Advocate.
His lawyer, Joseph Petersen, told the Burnie Magistrates Court that Stevens was under a lot of stress at the time with his sick child and had chosen to ‘kick back, have a drink and listen to music’.
The 37-year-old’s song of choice was ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which he reportedly played many, many times over at a ‘very high volume level’.
Magistrate Katie Edwards said Stevens “clearly” realises he caused the issue himself, saying he could have just turned the music down and not been “belligerent” with police.
Stevens was fined $200.
