Buffet boss brandished meat cleaver in restaurant parking feud
A restaurant owner involved in a feud with a rival establishment brandished a meat cleaver at a parking attendant, a court heard.
Zhe Huang, 49, became angry after he was told he could not park his van in a car park reserved for a rival restaurant.
The buffet boss took a cleaver from inside his restaurant and waved it around in front of the attendant as he prepared to write a ticket.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told a parking attendant was working for Kabel’s Steakhouse, in Shaw Street, Walsall, at about 6.15pm on Oct 13 last year.
The business had been having issues with unauthorised use of its car park, particularly by staff of Huang’s restaurant, Dine & Wine.
Restaurant owner told to move van
Huang drove a white van on to the car park, despite the attendant warning him that spaces were reserved for staff and customers of the steakhouse, and walked into his restaurant.
The parking attendant took pictures of the van and noted down the registration plate as he prepared to issue a ticket, Gary Cook, prosecuting, told the court.
Huang returned and was told to move the vehicle but started shouting at the attendant in Mandarin before going back inside and returning with a cleaver.
He was “aggressive and threatening”, towards the parking attendant, who feared for his safety, the court heard. But a restaurant employee intervened and took him back inside.
Huang, who lives in Birmingham, was arrested by the police. In his interview, he insisted he was entitled to use the car park but accepted he was angry and had waved the meat cleaver around.
He went on to say he was sorry and had not appreciated the seriousness of his actions.
A ‘momentary lapse in judgment’
Suzanne Francis, defending, said “committed family man” Huang, who has no previous convictions, came to the UK in 2009, and had built up the restaurant with his wife over the past five years.
He is “embarrassed and ashamed” over his “momentary lapse in judgment”, Ms Francis said, adding that he had been under stress because his wife was being treated for cancer.
She added: “Over the last few years, it has been a stressful time as his wife has had breast cancer. She has just completed chemotherapy and they are finally coming out of what has been a very difficult time.
“He clearly acted in a disgraceful manner. He is not someone who will trouble the courts again.”
Sentencing Huang, who admitted threatening the attendant with a bladed article, Recorder Sunil Khanna said: “You threatened a person just doing their job.I accept this was something that was totally out of character for you.
“However, knife crime in this country is at a point where it is almost an epidemic. The courts must be shown to be taking a serious view of those who are in possession of knives or offensive weapons.
“I do accept that your situation is perhaps slightly different from many cases that these courts often deal with.”
Huang was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 100 hours’ unpaid work and £425 costs.
