No peace at home - Non-stop bar noise brings untold misery to elderly resident

Sleep, silence, and sanity are luxuries Michael Brown* no longer enjoys inside his own home.

The 62-year-old St Catherine resident says thunderous music from a bar built almost at his doorstep has turned his life upside down, fractured his family, and driven him to spend nights sleeping in his van just to find peace.

Brown said the torment began in 2021, the moment the bar went up directly across from his yard -- so close, he says, it might as well be inside his house.

"I live on a corner lot, Miss," he said. "The bar right in front of my yard, not even seven feet from my gate. Dem bring it and put it straight in my gateway. From that day, my life get miserable."

Since then, the pounding music became relentless. There were no quiet mornings, no peaceful afternoons, no restful nights.

"From 2021 mi a suffer," he told THE STAR.

Brown said he has made countless reports to the police, but each intervention brings only brief relief. "The police come sometimes and lock it off," he explained. "But when dem gone, dem start it back again the next day."

As the noise dragged on, its damage reached far beyond his own exhaustion. His common-law wife, who suffered a stroke when their son was just one year old, remains severely affected nearly a decade later.

"She can't move one side of her body and her speech mash up," he said. "Mi affi move her because she can't stay here [or] she might get another stroke and dead."

He claimed that the chaos also chased his elderly mother from the home she owns. At 87 years old, she could no longer endure the constant blasting. "She cya live in it," Brown said softly. "She had to move out. Is her property."

Brown's own health has steadily declined under the strain. He suffers from high blood pressure and says the music sparks intense, debilitating pain. "When the noise start, it send my pressure up," he explained. "Pressure headache different from normal headache."

To make matters worse, Brown said the bar operators routinely stack massive speaker boxes directly at his gate, sealing him in. "For three years now, mi caah use mi own gate," he said. "Mi affi go round the back and cross a gully if mi wah come out."

Attempts at reasoning have only made things worse. "You can't talk to them," he said. "Dem cuss and seh a street side dem deh."

With no money to relocate and nowhere else to turn, Brown sometimes abandons his home altogether.

"Sometimes mi go park mi van somewhere quiet," he said.

But even escape is fleeting as the chaos greets him whenever he returns. He said the music routinely roars through the night. "Saturday from 10 [p.m.] straight to 4 in the morning," he said. "Sunday, same thing."

Desperate for intervention, Brown said he approached the municipal corporation, but after years of suffering, his hope is fading fast.

"My neighbours complain to me privately," he added, "but dem nah talk."

Under Jamaica's Noise Abatement Act, anyone planning to play music likely to disturb residents must apply in writing to the superintendent of police at least 10 days in advance. Even with approval, music must stop by midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, and volume levels must remain reasonable. Repeat offenders face fines, prosecution, and seizure of sound equipment.

Commanding Officer for Area Five Senior Superintendent Leighton Grey said police are legally bound to intervene once complaints are made.

"If somebody make a complaint, we have to go there and turn it down if them have permission, or lock it off if them don't," he said. "If necessary, we seize the sound system and prosecute."

Grey said he was unaware of Brown's case but urged residents to take formal action.

"Write to us and let us deal with it decisively," he said.

* Name changed to protect identity.