by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A decades-long feud between a pair of Greater Dandenong former mayors has landed in court.
In the latest spat, ex-councillor Maria Sampey was found guilty of breaching a personal-safety intervention order (IVO) taken out by current councillor Angela Long.
The charge was proven at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 3 July and dismissed without penalty.
Ms Sampey pleaded guilty to publishing Cr Long’s name several times in an email in December, which was against the IVO conditions.
The now-expired IVO had been granted to Cr Long on 6 September.
It was sparked by a heated phone call from Ms Sampey in which she says she told the councillor to “leave me alone” and to “f*** off”.
Cr Long claims that Ms Sampey also threatened to make various allegations “to the newspaper” about the councillor and her husband.
Representing herself in court, Ms Sampey said that when the IVO was initially taken out, she was unable to attend the court proceedings.
She was caring at home for her 99-year-old mother who died that same night.
When police served the court-ordered IVO on Ms Sampey, “I just agreed with everything because I wanted to be with my mother”.
She had pulled her mother from nine nursing homes due to inadequate care, and cared for her at home for the final 12 months of life.
“I wanted my mother to die with dignity at home. It was very stressful for me but it was the least I could do for my mother.”
The offending email was addressed to all Greater Dandenong councillors except Cr Long last December, but another councillor showed Cr Long the contents, Ms Sampey said.
She fired off the email to oppose Cr Long’s request for the council to pay nearly $9000 in personal legal costs for the IVO, she said.
“The policy of the council is if you’re the complainant, the council won’t pay. Angela was going against council policy.”
Magistrate Megan Casey said there would be a formal record of Ms Sampey attending court but no penalty.
Ms Casey noted that Ms Sampey had a “lot going on” at the time of the IVO and thanked Ms Sampey for caring for her ailing mother.
“It seems like it was a very stressful period.
“You took up a tremendous load over the last 12 months of her life. That would have made a huge difference to her.”
After the hearing, Ms Sampey said she was touched by the magistrate’s words.
“I’m feeling wonderful. I think she was very understanding about what I’ve been through.”
She described Cr Long’s IVO as an “abuse of process”.
“In all my years, if someone doesn’t agree with me, I don’t take out an IVO.
“It’s so trivial. It’s a waste of the court’s time.”
She elaborated on events leading to the IVO, claiming that Cr Long had often “bullied” her while they were on council together.
She alleged Cr Long had got the council’s then-chief executive John Bennie to hire a debt collector over Ms Sampey’s unreturned council phone last year.
Ms Sampey said she had been negotiating with Mr Bennie to buy the phone and felt “targeted”.
The IVO was issued after she rang Cr Long to tell her to “leave me alone” and “stop interfering in my life”.
She says Cr Long told her she was putting Ms Sampey on speaker-phone and Ms Sampey responded “I don’t care if I’m on speaker phone. F*** off.”
“How is that threatening her life?” Ms Sampey said. “She can dish it out but she can’t take it back.
“She just wanted to dig the boots in. I haven’t wanted to have anything to do with her.”
Cr Long later told Star Journal that during the call, Ms Sampey used “not very nice” language which escalated to “even worse”.
Ms Sampey also threatened to make various allegations about Cr Long and her husband to the newspaper, Cr Long said.
She denied she was behind calling for a debt collection letter against Ms Sampey.
“It was a sugggestion from the then-CEO (John Bennie). It was agreed on by all but two councillors.
“But I don’t think she’ll ever accept that.”
Cr Long, who watched the proceedings, said Ms Sampey’s version to the court was “all about her being a victim”.
“I didn’t contact her. All of the contact was on her side to me. She was the one who made the phone call, I didn’t answer the email.
“If she attacked me, I would retaliate and I probably shouldn’t have. Other than that, I wouldn’t publicly attack her.”
Cr Long said she would still feel uncomfortable if Ms Sampey contacted her.
“I would have to report it.
“I don’t want anything to do with her.”
Cr Long ultimately withdrew her legal reimbursement claim after a public uproar this year.
Despite the near $9000 cost, it was worth it to “get her off my back and to stop her bullying me all the time”.
Last year, the conflict between the two former mayors turned a council meeting into chaos.
The meeting was suddenly halted for 40 minutes, with Ms Sampey told to leave the public gallery due to an interim intervention order taken out by Cr Long.
It was eventually found that Ms Sampey was entitled to stay in the gallery.
There was no 200-metre exclusion zone as alleged, and Ms Sampey sought and later received a public apology from the council.
Cr Long said the long-standing feud started shortly after Ms Sampey was elected to the council in 2000.
