MEMBERS of a Southampton family have been cleared of attacking brothers.

Four members of the Roath family – Raja, Jaswant, Shakti and Satnam – have today been cleared of affray by jurors at Southampton Crown Court.

They were accused of attacking members of the Potiwall family in Clovelly Road in Southampton last April.

The court heard how violence erupted on April 13 this year – the day of the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi - following an ongoing dispute between both families.

Satnam Roath was cleared by jurors on Friday after they were out for three hours.

Raja Roath, Shakti Roath, and Jaswant Roath were cleared this afternoon after considering their verdicts for six hours.

Jurors heard that two feuding families had been involved in a brawl just after attending a religious festival in the city.

The violnce was sparked after member of the Roath and Potiwal families, who had been honouring Vaisahki, came across each other by chance at The Giddy Bridge public house in London Road.

Police were called to what could have developed into an ugly fracas and both families were told to go their own way home.

Potential trouble appearded to have been avoided but several minutes later, vioence flared in Clovelly Road.

As four member of the Roath family sat in the dock at the city crown court, prosecutor Simon Foster said of their relationship with the Potiwals: “There is no love lost between them and the Crown say this was a public order offence in which these people participatded in violence. They used violence for which there is no excuse.”

Jurors heard how three members of the Roath family drove past Jury's In n and into Clovbelly Road, followed by an a Vauxhall Astra car.

The father figures of both families spoke to each other over the phone in an effort to defuse the situation but to no avail, and the violence erupted.

Jurors heard two people went to hospital, one of them Gurdev Potiwal suffering from a broken nose, a black eye and brusing over his head and body.

Rsaja Roth, 25, Shakti Roath, 28, and Satnam Roath, also 28, all of Bitterne Road East, Southampton, and Jaswant Roath, 30, of Bassett Avenue, Southampton, denied affray, claiming the Pottiwal family had been the aggressors.