A Gunnedah truck driver has been left “gobsmacked” after being charged by police more than a year after rushing to help his neighbours fend off an intruder.
David Jamieson, 66, now dubbed “Brave Dave,” ran next door in nothing but his underwear when he heard screams and saw a group of men breaking through his neighbour’s locked gate.
“Who’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?” one of the intruders yelled, as security footage captured his neighbour, Robyn Watts trying to warn the group off with a baseball bat.
Robyn’s husband, Wayne Watts, then emerged from the house holding a loaded shotgun.
The shotgun discharged as intruder Kyle Cloake wrestled Watts to the ground, and despite being threatened he’d be “stabbed”, Jamieson jumped in to help separate the men.
“Someone could have ended up dying over there that night,” Jamieson said.
Jamieson said he was king hit by Cloake during the struggle. “When I was lying on the ground I stuck my foot up and he went … and turned it at 90 degrees,” he recalled.
Despite the threat, Jamieson put his life on the line for his neighbours, saying “I was more concerned that my neighbours were gonna get murdered in their driveway.”
He later received victim’s compensation for the assault. But more than a year after the incident, instead of receiving a bravery medal, he received court attendance notice.
Jamieson was charged with affray, with police alleging his actions would “cause a person of reasonable firmness to fear for their personal safety.”
“I’m probably looking at a 50 grand bill,” he said, devastated by the financial strain as he and his wife Anne have been saving up for an overseas holiday.
Anne Jamieson said her husband was a “good man who did nothing wrong” and didn’t deserve to be treated like a criminal.
“It’s wrong,” she said.
The confrontation began when the Watts family told a group of teenagers to get off their houseboat, parked on the street. Jamieson said the couple were worried the boat might be stolen due to rising theft in the Gunnedah area.
“Crime is out of control here,” Jamieson said.
Despite the charge, Jamieson stood by his actions, saying: “I could have been nude and it still wouldn’t have stopped me.”
“I was just doing what I was brought up to do, help your friends.”
Jamieson’s case is scheduled for a five-day hearing in October.
Wayne Watts was also charged with using an unauthorised firearm but was found guilty with no conviction recorded.
Cloake pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intimidation, and was released on good behaviour with no conviction.
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