Last July Mr Roberts was charged with assault during a dispute, which erupted into a riot, over the relocation of the land council's headquarters.

However, in Newcastle Court on April 9 the magistrate found the sentence of "no conviction" was warranted.

The magistrate ruled there were significant extenuating circumstances surrounding the incident which mitigated any conviction, such as a riot was taking place at the Aboriginal Land Council.

Mr Roberts, who was a volunteer CEO, claimed both he and other members of the community had been denied their liberty for several hours

Speaking with the Great Lakes Advocate, Mr Roberts said the alleged victim had travelled from Newcastle, disobeyed police instructions and joined the rioters in abusive and anti-social behaviour towards both the police and and himself.

While under the protection and direction of police, rioters had tried to block their path, and drove at a police woman.

The rioters arranged for vehicles to blockade the exit to the office grounds and gathered a crowd inciting them to hurl abuse at staff, as they mistakenly thought the office was being moved to Tea Gardens instead of an artefact shed for workers, Mr Roberts said.

A stand-off lasted for several hours with Mr Roberts and his staff being kept inside while police negotiated with the rioters.

The incident which was subject to the court proceedings occurred while police were escorting Mr Roberts for his safety, from the office, as his car had been blockaded in.

A former casual employee, who was one of the rioters, disobeyed police instructions, placed himself in front of the car and claimed that Mr Roberts had tried to run him over.

The court transcripts show that the Senior Constable Gibson who, was standing at the rear driver's passenger door of the vehicle, stated: "When the car started to move forward Mr Schmeirer obviously realised, and sort of lent on it and then, dramatised ... he had a crowd, he knew he had an audience; and the audience reacted, and yelled out."

The expert witness, a forensic engineer, testified that the driver had his foot on the brake at all times and appears to have unintentionally released slight pressure on the brake pedal, whilst his foot remained on the brake.

"The incident was so traumatic that one of the staff members is still on stress leave because of the riot," Mr Roberts said.

"I have spent almost my entire life in service to others, as 28 years as a local government councillor, 10 years as a surf life saver, and 25 years as a voluntary elder/pastor of a church.

"I worked as a teacher for 30 years, mostly in special education and child protection. I worked for the past 2.5 years as CEO of Karuah Aboriginal Land Council in which I received no pay, to help the Land Council get back on track and out of financial debt.

"I would like to thank all the people that supported me during this time and believed, because they knew me, that these allegations could not be true."