Millionaire in Jutland Parade defamation trial rages against councillor ‘feeding’ ill-will among neighbours

A millionaire property developer has accused a former City of Nedlands councillor of “poisoning” neighbours against his family over a “ridiculous” spat about his Jutland Parade verge. Paul and Meredith McGarry are suing Andrew Mangano for defamation after he repeatedly accused them of turning the verge of their vacant riverside lot in Dalkeith into a tripping hazard by illegally dumping truckloads of soil. Giving evidence in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Mr McGarry became emotional — reaching for tissues and raising his voice — as he described how Mr Mangano doggedly pursued the issue after they bought the 1959sqm block for $12.4 million in January 2022. Under questioning by his lawyer Rob Anderson KC, Mr McGarry said he agreed in February 2022 that the front looked messy, so had a section of footpath replaced and the verge graded “smooth and flat”. He said he was “very surprised” to then see Mr Mangano had put the matter before a council meeting and became “really upset” when it returned in May while he was working in Japan. “I was in shock, disbelief,” Mr McGarry said. “We are being accused of being criminals, of acting illegally. “You spend a lifetime to build a reputation.” He said his wife was in tears. And after the motion was heard for the third time at a council meeting in September 2022 — where Mr Mangano vowed to re-raise it every three months if other councillors didn’t back his calls — she again wept. She said they would have to “call Willy” (Porteous), who the couple bought it from, and have him sell it once more, Mr McGarry said. Mr Mangano went on to contact the Melville Residents and Ratepayers Association, Citizens for Building Reform and even Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley, he said. “He’s still going on about it ... copying in as many people as he can ... I don’t get it. “What does he need to stop?” Grilled by high-profile barrister Sue Chrysanthou, however, Mr McGarry admitted he knew their neighbours were angry about the site just one month after settlement. In fact, tensions exploded and concerns went way beyond the verge. Mr McGarry said that at a planned meeting with Tonya McCusker, he was “ambushed” by other neighbours including Arif Valibhoy, the son of wealthy businessman Abdul Rahim Valibhoy. Within days, they were all complaining to the council. “I can’t believe the hostility already and this is before we even build. I’m not sure I want to live here now,” Mr McGarry wrote. Mrs McCusker, the wife of former WA Governor Malcolm McCusker, sent a detailed list of concerns including the soil being “up to three metres higher” than their boundary wall, which was dangerous as it could collapse. She also queried whether an application to spread it down to the river had been made to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Workers also cut a sewerage pipe, sending it “onto our property and running down to the Swan River”, Mrs McCusker wrote in a follow-up email. Ms Crysanthou said her client was simply responding to complaints made by the neighbours. “No, I don’t believe that his intentions were good,” Mr McGarry said. “He had it in for us and he was never going to stop.” Earlier, Mr McGarry told Mr Anderson that he had offered to pay for any remediation required and tried to contact Mr Mangano in a bid to resolve the issue but got no response. Instead, the councillor was emailing neighbours, with one beginning: “For your eyes only but can verbally pass on to others”. That seemed like a “cabal”, Mr McGarry said furiously. “We’ve got this councillor poisoning everyone against us, pulling it all together,” he said. Mr McGarry said hearing voicemail messages Mr Mangano left on a suburban journalist’s phone “feeding information” about the controversy also made him angry. “We wouldn’t be here if he just spoke to me once. “I could have fixed this.” The trial continues.