9:28am Saturday 24th July 2010
By Neil Hunter
A TAKEAWAY owner plagued by racist yobs for two years ended up in court for trying to tackle the ringleader of the gang he blamed for his troubles.
Xiaogang Shi claimed repeated pleas to police were ignored, so he took the law into his own hands when his shop was pelted with snowballs on January 11.
But his attempts to detain the main culprit and dial 999 for help backfired when the yob’s friends started to attack him – and he picked up a weapon.
Shi took a wheel brace from his car and waved it around to scare off his assailants, but it struck a 15-year-old and cut his head open, a court heard yesterday.
The 36-year-old admitted a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm, but said he picked up the bar because he feared his attackers might be armed.
Teesside Crown Court was told Shi and had eight troublefree years at a takeaway in Darlington before moving to Eston, near Middlesbrough, two years ago.
He said he was regularly subjected to racial abuse and the shop was pelted with eggs and mud by gangs of youths who gathered near The Gourmet Palace.
Joan Smith, mitigating, said: “He contacted the police on a number of occasions and was informed that there was little that could be done either because the youths had disbanded or an individual youth could not be identified.”
She said that, since the incident in January, the police presence had increased in the area.
Shi, of Columbia Street, Darlington, was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to undergo supervision.
Judge Brian Forster said he would not award compensation to the teenager because of the circumstances.
He told Shi: “In your own words, you felt cornered, you felt there was little you could do yourself.
“The courts have a duty to deter people from arming themselves with weapons and as a matter of common sense from using them in such a way that may cause injury.
“At the same time, anyone hearing the history of torment and distress can only understand your frustration, even if it is not possible to reconcile you taking out the weapon.”
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