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“That was terrible. My wife was crying all night,” Mr. Ghadaki told the National Post. He said they wanted an apology from the Pannetons, but did not get one.

“We are very civilized. We love our neighbours.… We never want to bother our neighbours. But these people don’t accept us in the community.”

One cannot be sensitive to all noise and sound when family and friends gather

In their testimony as witnesses at trial, the Pannetons denied their complaints were motivated by anything other than noise. For his part, Mr. Panneton said he meant that the Ghadakis’ should go home to the Toronto neighbourhood they lived in previously, before moving to their Hoggs Hollow house in 2014.

The Pannetons’ lawyer, Julianna Greenspan, noted that Justice of the Peace Sunny Ng did not mention the defence arguments on racial animus when he gave his decision in late March. She also said another neighbour filed a noise complaint, further disproving any untoward motivation behind the Pannetons’ complaints. (Hasan, the Ghadakis lawyer, said he was not aware of a further complaint.)

“There is no racial motivation or racial undertones, whatsoever. That’s been ongoing, it was cross-examined and it was done,” Greenspan said. “There is no racial motivation or racial undertones, whatsoever.”

Ng found that the Ghadakis of York Valley Crescent were just two grandparents using their backyard normally: “family gatherings, friends come over, occasional teenagers would come, their kids would come, their cousins.”

“That is normal use,” Ng said, also noting that the Ghadakis had made strides to address the noise, calling in a technician to look at their speaker system. “One cannot be sensitive to all noise and sound when family and friends gather.”

He found the Ghadakis not guilty.

“In this case,” Ng said, “one must accept the neighbour.”

• Email: jedmiston@postmedia.com | Twitter: jakeedmiston