A St George’s man admitted punching a neighbour in a dispute over laundry.

Dennis DaCosta, 42, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault in connection with a confrontation on Sunday, June 25.

The court heard that the conflict arose after the complainant, who like DaCosta, is a resident at the emergency housing facility in St David’s, was using the building’s laundry room.

The complainant reportedly saw someone else’s clothes in the machine that he believed he had paid for.

He took the clothes out of the machine, tossed them in a bucket of water, and went to security to complain.

Security staff reviewed CCTV footage of the incident and saw that it was DaCosta’s clothes in the machine — and that he had himself paid for the machine. Mr DaCosta later went to the security area to complain about his clothes being placed in a bucket of water and was informed that the complainant was responsible.

The complainant was told by security what had happened and asked the staff to apologise to DaCosta on his behalf and offered to reimburse him.

But before that message could be passed on, DaCosta confronted the complainant and punched him in the face. Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo adjourned the case to the next sitting of the mental health court and released DaCosta on $1,500 bail.

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