A MAN who punched and headbutted a motorist in a road rage attack later went home and tried to choke his girlfriend, a court heard.

And on another occasion Stephen Acheampong, along with his brother Christopher, fought with two policemen who had pulled their car over for a routine stop.

The brothers screamed at the police that the only reason they had been stopped was because they were black and one of them was only subdued when police used CS gas.

The other brother fled home, stripped to his underwear and when police tried to arrest him claimed he had been in bed.

Yesterday Stephen Acheampong, aged 38, of George Road, Ramsbottom, and his 34 year-old brother Christopher, of Fir Street, Ramsbottom, appeared for sentence at Bolton Crown Court.

Both brothers were charged with affray while Stephen Acheampong also faced two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and driving without a

test certificate.

Recorder Eric Lamb said normally for offences of affray the sentence would have been one of custody but he said he was persuaded that probation would help them.

Stephen Acheampong was sentenced to three years probation with a proviso he attends the Domestic Violence Perpetrators programme.

He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to the driver he assaulted and banned from driving for two years. His brother, who was only charged with affray, was sentenced to two years probation.

Prosecutor Duncan Preston said that Stephen Acheampong had assaulted a driver coming off the motorway slip road after the other driver had objected to him cutting in front of him.

He punched him through the window, and then headbutted him and then returned and demanded he shake his hand telling the shocked driver: " I've been having trouble with my bitch."

Later he went to his girlfriend's house taking two cans of cider and a tape recorder. He told her to take her shoes off and when she did he stabbed one of the shoes with a knife.

He then punched her in the face several times, kicked her in the stomach and tried to choke her and only stopped when her aunt and her husband arrived.

Aggressive

She later received a letter from Acheampong apologising for hurting her and saying he loved her. On February 26 both brothers were in a car pulled over for a routine check by two traffic policemen.

The driver, not one of the brothers, could not produce any documents and was taken to one side by the police officer.

Stephen Acheampong became aggressive and shouted that the officers were racists and the only reason they had been stopped was because they were black.

Christopher Acheampong pushed one officer into the middle of the road and his brother then joined in shouting that if he had a knife he would kill them both.

Christopher was only subdued by CS gas spray and Stephen ran off carrying a pair of handcuffs dropped by one of the officers.

When officers went to his home nearby, he was dressed in just his underwear, claiming he had been in bed and had seen his brother being assaulted by police and had gone to help him.