Couple beat up shopper after ‘clash of trolleys’
A COUPLE have been found guilty of beating up a shopper after a ‘clash of trolleys’ at a Chinese cash and carry.
Chi Yeung Tai, 38, punched Xue Jun Chen and kicked him in the head following a row in the freezer section of Wing Fat in Openshaw. Tai’s wife, Wai-Yu Tai, 39, joined the brawl in the car park, using a broom as a weapon. And, while Mr Chen lay ‘helpless on the ground,’ another man, Edward Choi, ran over and ‘jumped’ on his head.
Mr and Mrs Tai, both of Ribbleton, Preston, denied assault causing actual bodily harm to Mr Chen in a Manchester Crown Court trial. But they were found guilty and will be sentenced next month alongside Choi, 39, of Coconut Grove, Salford, who earlier pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm to Mr Chen in the incident at 11.30am on July 23, 2015.
Mrs Tai was cleared of a charge of battery against Mr Chen’s wife, Xiaoewei Shi. Prosecutor Robert Smith told jurors in the Tais’ trial that the parties were shopping at Wing Fat supermarket, on Ashton Old Road, when there was an ‘innocuous dispute concerning a clash of trolleys or something of that nature.’
Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, Mr Chen told court that he was in the store holding his 18-month-old son when he clashed with Mr Tai outside the freezer room. Later, outside the supermarket, Mr Chen said he demanded an apology from Mr Tai, but was ‘smacked in the face.’
“I saw his wife come over with a broom in her hand, and she hit me with that,” Mr Chen said. “As a result my head was bleeding and I fell on the ground, and then more people came over and they stamp on me, front and back and all over... my face was covered in blood.” Mr Chen suffered a 6cm ‘laceration’ to his forehead. He was accused of being the aggressor by the Tais during the trial.