Kitchen workers given community service for take-away restaurant knife and meat cleaver attack 

By Isabel Hayes 

Two take-away restaurant workers who attacked each other with a knife and a meat cleaver, leaving the kitchen covered in blood, have been ordered to carry out community service. 

Dawei Zhang (37) and Han Chung Tang (45) were preparing food in the kitchen of Jumbo Wok takeaway in Kimmage, Dublin, in July 2019 when a verbal argument became violent, with Tang striking Zhang with a meat cleaver. 

Zhang then used a knife to stab Tang repeatedly, who was discovered in the back yard of the restaurant premises with significant blood loss, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard. 

Zhang, of Cloonlara Square, Phoenix Park Racecourse, Castleknock, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm and one count of producing a knife in the course of a dispute at the restaurant on July 27, 2019. 

Tang, of Millbrook, Portlaoise, Co Laois, pleaded guilty to the same charges. Neither man has any previous convictions. 

Some of the incident was captured on CCTV footage taken from the take-away kitchen, which had previously been played in court. 

Sentencing the men today, Judge Martina Baxter said they were “intent on causing serious harm to each other over who was the better chef”.

The violence on the day was “gratuitous”, and she noted there was “blood everywhere” in the aftermath of the incident. 

She took into account a number of mitigating factors, including the fact that neither man has previous convictions and that they have not come to the attention of gardaí since the incident five years ago. 

She ordered Zhang to perform 240 hours of community service in lieu of a two-and-a-half-year sentence and Tang to perform the same number of hours in lieu of a two-year sentence. 

At an earlier sentence hearing, Detective Garda Marcus Sweeney told Joe Mulrean BL, prosecuting, that the pair had a “tense history”, with the argument that day starting over the shared workload. 

A physical fight ensured, which was captured on camera before the pair broke apart and Zhang left the kitchen to have a cigarette. 

When he returned to the kitchen, the pair started fighting again before Tang grabbed a meat cleaver and swung it at Zhang, hitting him on the head and shoulder a number of times, the court heard. 

In an incident that was not captured on camera, Zhang then stabbed Tang a number of times.

Another restaurant worker discovered him collapsed in the backyard in a pool of blood while Zhang was bleeding heavily from the head.

There was blood all over the restaurant kitchen floor, the court heard. 

An ambulance and gardaí were called, and emergency services worked to staunch the flow of blood in Tang’s case.

He was taken to hospital with multiple stab wounds to his head, forearm, back and head and required blood transfusions. 

Zhang required medical treatment for lacerations to his scalp, chest and shoulder. 

Tang was out of work for 16 weeks due to injuries, and his employment at the restaurant was terminated.

Padraig Dwyer SC, defending Tang, said he suffered from insomnia in the wake of the attack. 

John Byrne SC, defending Zhang, said there was a history of animosity between the pair, with his client having a more junior role to Tang.

Zhang now works in another restaurant, the court heard. 

Judge Baxter noted that both men were extremely fortunate that they did not end up with more serious injuries.