A Sandys man received a 12 month conditional discharge yesterday after he was found guilty of uttering threatening words.

Magistrates' Court heard that Burnell Howard Cross, 57, had threatened to "chop up'' his neighbour Christopher Manning Smith on January 13.

Cross, of Scott's Hill Road, was at his wife's property at Radnor Court when he saw Mr. Smith filling in some pot holes with asphalt along the common driveway used by residents.

Mr. Smith, son of Senator Calvin Smith, testified that he saw Cross go over to a neighbour's house and speak with someone there before he approached him.

"Mr. Cross said something to me from a distance, but I couldn't hear,'' Mr.

Smith said. "I ignored him and continued working.'' He added that Cross came up to him and said: "You should try something like that on my property and I'll chop you up with a machete''.

Mr. Smith said Cross was aggressive and hostile during the incident.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to be attacked and I felt very threatened,'' he added.

Julia Marie Durham, a friend of the Smith family, was at their home on the day of the fight.

She said she saw the incident through the kitchen window and when she went outside she heard Cross say something like: "I'm going to mash you up.'' Ms Durham said Mr. Smith came back in the house and called 911.

P.c. Steven Paynter took the complaint and spoke with both men. He said Cross' demeanour was agitated.

He said: "He appeared agitated as he was animated and speaking loudly.'' Cross said Mr. Smith had been an annoyance to his family and a trespasser for the past nine years and claimed Mr. Smith threatened him first.

But Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner ruled that Cross was the one who had threatened Mr. Smith and found him guilty of uttering threatening words.

The court heard that Cross had several previous convictions of a similar nature.

In February he was sentenced to three months in prison for threatening a visitor and in May he was fined for assault and carrying an offensive weapon.

Mr. Warner said this incident was the result of a lengthy dispute and he was sure that there was bad blood between the two men.

"This is a long standing property dispute which the court is not equipped, or willing, to sort out on behalf of yourselves,'' he said.

"Don't threaten each other and don't commit offences against each other.'' "No one was hurt and, not withstanding your previous record, it's obvious that you have a propensity for this behaviour.'' Cross was sentenced to a 12 month conditional discharge and warned that if he appeared in court again that a custodial sentence would be imposed.