A Green Party A councilor has appeared in court accused of assaulting five people, including three police officers.
Siobhan Harper-Nunes, 66, who was elected as councilor for Birmingham’s Ladywood ward in this year’s local elections, is believed to have carried out the attack in the city’s Edgbaston area on August 6.
West Midlands Police were called to reports of disorder and Harper-Nunes was later arrested on suspicion of assault.
She was later charged with assaulting a member of the public, three police officers and a member of police staff.
Following the allegations, Harper-Nunes was suspended from the Green Party and now sits as an independent councilor on Birmingham City Council.
Appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, Harper-Nunes only spoke to confirm her name and her address.
District Judge Michelle Smith adjourned the hearing until September 17 at the request of Harper-Nunes’ attorney, Georgina Ellis, so that CCTV footage related to the case could be reviewed.
The judge told the defendant, who wore a long beige coat, clutched a black handbag and left the court wearing sunglasses, that she was being released on unconditional bail until the next hearing.
Siobhan Harper-Nunes (pictured), 66, who was elected councilor for Birmingham’s Ladywood ward at this year’s local elections, is believed to have carried out the attack on August 6 in the city’s Edgbaston area.
Before her suspension, Harper-Nunes was a political heavyweight for the local Green Party.
She was the party’s candidate in the 2024 West Midlands mayoral election, where she finished a distant fifth.
During the 2022 local elections she stood for election Birmingham Gravelly Hill ward councilor – finished second to Labour.
And in the Birmingham Erdington by-election, also in 2022, Harper-Nunes finished fifth, receiving just 236 votes and losing her deposit.
She said she does not describe herself as a career politician, but is an experienced political campaigner.
In 2006, she founded Shakti Women to help women struggling to balance their family, career and life. The group brings its members together with walks, coffee mornings, workshops, therapy and other activities.
Harper-Nunes was vice-chair of the Birmingham Race Impact Group and pledged to use her position to educate and change attitudes.
She told the BBC in 2024 that politicians should lead by example rather than stirring up hatred, adding that there should be “no room in politics for the ugly Islamophobia and anti-Semitism we have seen in recent times.”
