A man in New Taipei's Ruifang district has been sentenced for a three-month campaign of vandalism and threats against the family next door — bad news for him, some relief for the victims.

• The court gave him 88 days' detention for property damage and two months in jail for criminal intimidation, both convertible to fines.
• The attacks started last October: he smashed the neighbors' front door glass with a golf club, then dented their iron door and broke a parked scooter with a wooden stick.
• In January he sprayed red paint on their security camera twice, then knocked it down with an iron bar.
• Days later he kicked their door while shouting and waved a machete at the woman and her cousin, who called police; officers seized the blade on the spot.
• He confessed to everything, but has not reached a settlement with the family — a factor that kept the sentence from being lighter.

Outlook: With no settlement in place, the victims' path to compensation likely runs through a separate civil claim.