CUSU Election advisor in court for child abuse

Colin Rosenstiel, a Cambridge Lib Dem City Councillor known for his long standing involvement with CUSU, is in hot water for allegedly beating a 7 year old child. 

The politician, through his ties to political pressure group Electoral Reform Society, has helped with Student Union and Grad Union elections at Cambridge over the last few years.

Might we see that smile turn into a frown?

He was praised by outgoing CUSU president Flick Osborn for his contribution to the latest elections, in a paper where she expressed “A big thank you to Colin Rosenstiel… for supporting us at the Count.”

Rosenstiel, an alum of Trinity College who represents Market Ward, is accused of assault by beating in an incident on November 2 last year. He pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Friday. The politician also remains on the ballot paper for local elections next month.

Spencer Hagard, chairman of Cambridge Liberal Democrats, said the party were likely to have withdrawn Rosenstiel as a candidate had they known about the assault charge.

Hagard said: “No-one in the local party had been made aware of this until late last Thursday evening despite the party’s rigorous internal requirements of candidates.

“This was a matter of hours after nominations closed for the elections in which Colin had been nominated.

“Under election law nominations cannot be withdrawn after that point.

“In the light of these events, the party will not be promoting his candidacy even though his name will unavoidably appear on the ballot paper.”

Well if we faced those accusations, we’d be frowning too

This is not the first time that Rosenstiel has caused controversy. In 2007, he was embroiled in scandal after barring an ambulance responding to an emergency call-out from driving onto Jesus Green, as he claimed it was not allowed to do so. Two years later, British Transport Police were called after Rosenstiel refused a ticket inspector’s request that he move his bicycle to another carriage on a Cambridge to London train.

Rosenstiel has expressed annoyance over press coverage of his latest legal woes. In a Twitter argument with Cambridge News writer Chris Havergal, Rosenstiel accused the reporter of breaching Section 39, a reporting restriction banning details from being released about underage parties in criminal proceedings. Even though none of this information was disclosed in the Cambridge News article, when confronted by another Twitter user over his misunderstanding of the law, Rosenstiel had this to say: