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Councillor guilty
of assault on courier
By Tryst Williams,
The Western Mail (icwales.icnetwork.co.uk), Apr 22 2004
A COUNCILLOR has been found guilty of attacking a cycle courier and gained
his second criminal conviction in two years.
Magistrates heard how Cardiff councillor Jack Scherer, 55, grabbed cyclist
Paul Medhurst by the throat as he made a delivery to Scherer's Cardiff Bay
office block last July.
After a five-hour hearing he was found guilty of common assault, given a
one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £75 compensation
and £150 costs.
In 2002, Scherer was fined £1,000 for driving into a British
Cycle Race marshal, for which he had to make a public apology before his fellow
councillors.
During the hearing, magistrates in Cardiff were told that Scherer confronted
Mr Medhurst as he left his bike in the lobby of Bay Chambers, West Bute Street
Mr Medhurst, 40, a former social worker, said Scherer grabbed him by the
throat and pushed him into a wall during the incident.
Defending, David Aubrey QC said Scherer thought the bike was a safety risk
and claimed that during the scuffle the courier had hit out at Scherer.
The Rhiwbina councillor was originally elected as a Conservative in 1999
but no longer sits on the Tory group and is listed as an Independent on the
council's website.
He has previously announced he will not be seeking re-election for the Rhiwbina
ward.
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