brother and sister turned violent.

John Hubert Taylor, of 129 North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish, pleaded not guilty to assaulting and threatening his sister Elaine Charles.

Ms Charles said she went to the Crawl Hill residence along with her ex-husband, her daughter and her daughter's fiance.

Ms Charles claimed she went with the sole purpose of speaking with her younger brother, Albert Taylor -- who lived in an apartment at the residence -- about when he planned to move out so her daughter and her fiancee could move in.

She said she initially thought no one was home, but then three of her brothers -- Albert, John, and Coleridge -- came out of the middle apartment.

Ms Charles said John Taylor approached her aggressively and "unleashed a barrage of profanity'' on her.

"He called me a f***ing b**ch, he told me to get the f*** off his property or he would kill me,'' said Ms Charles.

"As we were going to the car, he came up to me and spat three times in my face...My ex-husband stepped between us to create space,'' she said.

She said she was "traumatised'' by the incident and later reported the incident to Police.

"I was going with peaceful intentions,'' said Ms Charles and started to cry.

She said her mother had conveyed the property to her nine years ago and left it to her in her will of January 3, 1997.

She added that there was a writ against her for allegedly creating undue influence in regards to her mother.

During cross-examination Taylor -- who was unrepresented -- asked his sister: "Was your express purpose for coming to the property to ask Albert and myself to vacate the property two weeks before Christmas?'' to which she replied "No''.

Mr. Foy gave a similar account of the incident as Ms Charles, and added: "(Taylor) said if he had a machete, he'd chop her head off.'' Senior Magistrate Will Francis asked Mr. Foy if Ms Charles had been confrontational to which he replied: "She was petrified.'' But Taylor said in his defence: "My mother had just died very traumatically, and I didn't like the way (my sister) handled my mother's death.'' "There was hostility from myself, Albert and Coleridge,'' he added.

But Mr. Francis said: "She had no business with you, she was coming to see Albert...why did you have to get up in your sister's face?'' "What was Albert, was he eight years old? Or was he a man? It sounds to me like you thrust yourself into Albert's business,'' said Mr. Francis.

"You're absolutely right, I throw myself on the mercy of the court,'' said Taylor.

"This is a nasty and very insulting act from a brother to a sister over a property matter,'' said Mr. Francis.

"Too many families fall out over property -- and often neither side understands the law, and they're hating each other,'' he added.

Mr. Francis advised Taylor to "just cool down and let the courts work it out'' after fining him $500 for the assault and giving him a 12-month conditional discharge for threatening behaviour.