An excavator told a magistrate yesterday that he saw Olympic sailor Peter Bromby and his brother threaten to kill their neighbour over disputed excavations near their East Shore Road, Sandys shoreline.

And alleged victim Henry Talbot told the court that Peter Frederick Bromby, Jr. and John Mark (Bo) Bromby threatened to ?lay me out flat there? in a heated confrontation on May 16 last year.

The brothers have denied charges of threatening and assaulting Mr. Talbot on that date.

Yesterday, Peter Bromby, Jr. said on the stand that he found it ironic that Mr. Talbot only reported the alleged assault on May 19 ? just hours after a story embarrassed him over excavation of a cliff fronting onto Gilbert?s Bay beach.

Bromby, Jr. had to have a replacement sailor represent him at yesterday?s International Race Week penultimate day in order to appear in court. Race Week is a major fixture on the Island?s sailing calendar.

On May 19, 2004, a article highlighted neighbours? concerns over 1,000-year-old rock formations ? and five or six longtail nests ? which had been bulldozed on Mr. Talbot?s orders.

But in Magistrates? Court yesterday, Mr. Talbot said he had only moved boulders that fell onto his boundary during Hurricane Fabian. This led to a confrontation with the Brombys on May 16, however.

He said the Brombys were very hostile towards him and pushed him back against the boulders.

?Peter said I am not to move and, if I did, he will lay me out flat there at that spot,? Mr. Talbot said. ?I took it to mean he was very serious and planned on hurting me.?

He said the Brombys got on either side of him and started to hit him on his shoulders with their hands.

?They continued and then Peter said to me that he would kill me ?right here? if I don?t move the boulders,? he said. ?At this time, Peter took a pipe and jabbed me in my groin and stomach area.?

Mr. Talbot said he sustained bruising, but no pictures were exhibited.

On cross-examination by defence lawyer Richard Horseman, Mr. Talbot admitted he did not make a complaint to Police about the alleged assault immediately.

He had been arrested for obstruction. ?I say this is a prejudicial situation,? Mr. Talbot said. ?They got weapons (the Bromby brothers) and then Police put me in handcuffs.?

Excavator Earl Waldron told the court yesterday that he saw the brothers pushing his employer and heard them threatening to kill him.

?My boss got hit with a pipe in his stomach,? Mr. Waldron said. ?They were both shouting the same thing. Saying things at the same time.

?They stopped him and said ?if you don?t take the wall down or take the machine off the land?. They threatened to beat and kill him.

?They pushed him to the wall and said not to leave the beach until it was done. They had sticks and pipes in their hands and were waving them around.?

On the stand, however, Peter Bromby, Jr. denied this occurred.

He said Mr. Talbot was blocking a right-of-way to a beach his family had used for more than 70 years.

?The day he first made mention of us threatening him or having assaulted him was the same day had a headline story discussing the illegal activities that he had been doing,? Bromby, Jr. said.

?I am not a Planning officer, but I find it ironic I?m here today and no charges have been brought against Mr. Talbot pertaining to his actions on the beach.?

He said, after the story was printed, Mr. Talbot was faced with ?considerable embarrassment just about everywhere he went in the community?.

?That was his motive to trump up charges against my brother and myself,? Bromby, Jr. said.

Bromby, Jr. admitted however, to taking a piece of pipe down to the beach because of previous hostilities.

?I took a piece of pipe with the intention to protect my right-of-way and indeed, the right of all Bermudians below the high water mark,? he said.

His brother John Bromby told the court he called Police around 11 a.m. when he saw an excavator putting boulders on the bottom of the right-of-way below his home.

He admitted to carrying a hoe handle down to the beach because he did not want Mr. Talbot?s Pitt bulls to get ?sooked? on him.

On cross-examination by Crown counsel Oonagh Vaucrosson, Bromby conceded the dogs could have been Boxers.

Bromby said the hoe handle never left his side and he would not have called Police if he intended to attack someone.

Sgt. Jermaine Tucker confirmed that Mr. Talbot made no mention of the alleged attack when he was arrested, but three days later came to see him at Somerset Police Station to make a complaint.

Sgt. Tucker admitted to making ?an arrangement? with Mr. Talbot that he could go home and write a complaint himself.

He admitted this was not usual Police practice, but said he was ?run ragged that day and in no condition to write a three to four page statement?.

Sometime in June, Mr. Talbot returned to the station with a typed complaint which Sgt. Tucker admitted to transferring ?practically verbatim? onto a Police report.

P.c. Paul Watson testified when he arrived on the beach Mr. Talbot was waving his arms around and was louder than the Brombys.

He said the boulders on the beach ran below the low-tide mark to a right-of-way and that Mr. Talbot was told this was against the law.

P.c. Watson said Mr. Talbot was arrested for being aggressive, agitated and belligerent but no charges were filed.

The trial will resume on Monday before Acting Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo.