Buffet boss brandished meat cleaver at parking attendant

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.

The business had been having issues with unauthorised use of its car park, particularly by staff of Huang’s restaurant, Dine & Wine.

Huang drove a van on to the car park, despite a warning from the attendant, and walked into his restaurant.

The 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 shouted 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, insisted he was entitled to use the car park but said he was sorry.

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.

Sentencing Huang, who admitted threatening the attendant with a bladed article, Recorder Sunil Khanna said: “The courts must be shown to be taking a serious view of those who are in possession of knives or offensive weapons.”

Huang was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 100 hours’ unpaid work and £425 costs.