SYDNEY, Nov 26 — Sydney police said a man was left “quite embarrassed” after several neighbours mistook his efforts to kill a spider for a domestic violence incident.

The Guardian reported today that police rushed to an apartment block in the suburb of Wollstonecraft at around 2am on Saturday morning, after receiving calls of a woman and man yelling and screaming hysterically.

Apparently, a man was heard yelling, “I’m going to kill you, you’re dead”, and furniture being thrown.

Police questioned a man described as “out of breath and rather flushed” when he answered the door.

But it quickly transpired that it had just been the man screaming at the top of his lungs — alone — while attempting to kill a particularly massive spider.

The Harbourside Local Area Command Facebook posted a transcript of the complete interaction, and it’s pretty hilarious:

Police: “Where’s your wife?”

Male: “Umm I don’t have one.”

Police: “Where’s your girlfriend?”

Male: “Umm I don’t have one.”

Police: “We had a report of a domestic and a women screaming, where is she?”

Male: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I live alone.”

Police: “Come on mate; people clearly heard you yelling you were going to kill her and furniture getting thrown around the unit.”

At this point, the man became very sheepish.

Police: “Come on mate, what have you done to her.”

Male: “It was a spider.”

Police: “Sorry?”

Male: “It was a spider, a really big one!”

Police: “What about the women screaming?”

Male: “Yeah, sorry, that was me, I really, really hate spiders.”