A RESTAURANT owner frustrated about being unable to find a bowl to cook his breakfast noodles grabbed and pushed his wife against a door, leaving her with a lump on the back of her head, heard Skipton Magistrates.

Choyan Chan, 61, claimed he was acting in self defence after his wife of 37 years threw a plastic stool at him at their home in Navigation Square, Skipton.

Chan, who denied assault by beating when he appeared before the court today (Tuesday), said he had been talking to himself when his wife, who had been on the sofa, watching the television on May 7 shouted at him before throwing the stool.

He claimed he had attempted to stop her scratching his face by holding her arms in a ‘bear hug’ and pushing her away.

But Yikkan Chan told the court that her husband had become very angry, had gone over to where she was sitting, grabbed her, picked her up and threw her against a door..

“I sat down and found a really big lump on the back of my head,” she said.

The couple’s adult son, Vincent Chan, who had been asleep upstairs, heard a noise, and rushed downstairs where he found his mother holding the back of her head.

His mother called the police who arrived and arrested his father and paramedics treated his mother for the injury to her head, he told the court.

Chan, who in 2007 received a police caution for assaulting his wife, told the court he would not dare argue with her and that she had never cooked for him, adding he was happy to do the cooking because ‘she can’t cook properly’.

Magistrates told Chan they did not think he honestly believed that the force he had used as self defence had been necessary and found him guilty of assault by beating.

Keith Blackwell, for Chan, said his client had been a chef all his life, and now suffered from poor health. He had insulin dependant diabetes and was due to have a heart bypass operation.

Chan, now of Briggate, Silsden, was given a 12 month community order with up to 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also ordered to pay costs of £625 and a surcharge of £85. Magistrates also agreed to an indefinite restraining order, barring him from contacting or approaching his wife.