A TAKEAWAY worker who wielded a meat cleaver at a civil enforcement officer was sent to custody for 24 weeks on Tuesday. Zhi Hua Zhao, aged 56, of Newcastle Emlyn, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of using threatening and abusive words at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on July 29. However at his trial on Tuesday, Magistrates found him guilty.

Prosecuting, Vaughan Pritchard Jones said: “On the date in question, Nicholas James, a civil enforcement officer, had gone to the Red Cow restaurant in Adpar to collect a fine that Mr Zhao owed. Mr James identified himself but at first there was some confusion on Zhao’s part and he told Mr James that the person he was looking for was not in the restaurant and told him to come back on another day.

He was in fact the man he was looking for and he was trying to avoid making the payment. He made it clear that that he wasn’t going to leave until he had the money and Zhao became more agitated. He turned the lights off and went to close the door. Mr James turned them back on again but Zhao turned the lights off again and locked the door. Zhao shouted at him to get out, Mr James replied ‘How can I get out when you’ve locked the door’? He became more agitated and Zhao then disappeared into the kitchen area.

He came back holding a meat cleaver. He was holding it parallel to the ground but he then raised his arm so the blade was pointing upwards. He then said ‘this will make you leave’ and he continued to tell the man to leave. At that stage the enforcement offi cer said he would call 999 and the defendant seemed to calm down. Some customers then entered the store but as a result of hearing him on the phone to the police they left.

Mr James has then gone to leave the restaurant but at this point Zhao pushed him out of the door. He spoke to the gentleman again with a colleague a few days later and payment was made. There were no problems at the second attempt.” Defending, Mike Kelleher said: “It is strange that the bailiff would not have cards in another language to help someone understand why he was there.

He produced paperwork that came from Northampton, if you had a penalty from a Carmarthen court it would seem a bit strange to see a letter from Northampton. Mr Zhao can also not read English. This could have been sorted out in a better way. I have explained to you how he reacted, he couldn’t understand what was going on, he may not have known of the powers that a bailiff possesses. It is not a threatening move to turn the lights off and it is our case that he locked the door but then unlocked it straight away.

This was an unfortunate incident, he was confused and the whole situation has been blown out of proportion simply because Mr Zhao did not understand.” The Magistrates deliberated and after some time they found that Mr James was an honest, straightforward and credible witness. They added that the case was found proven beyond reasonable doubt and found Zhao guilty. On sentencing the Magistrates heard how Zhao has a previous conviction for a very similar offence. The Chairman of the bench said: “We feel that the only appropriate sentence in this case is an immediate custodial sentence. We have taken into account the seriousness of the offence and Mr Zhao’s antecedent history and send you into custody for a period of 24 weeks.”