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Police officer called arrested man 'a nigger', court told Police officer called arrested man 'a nigger', court told
(about 1 hour later)
A riot officer told a young black man under arrest in the back of a police van: "The problem with you is that you will always be a nigger," a court has been told. A riot officer told a young black man under arrest in the back of a police van, "the problem with you is that you will always be a nigger," a court has heard.
Southwark crown court was played two brief audio recordings made by Mauro Demetrio, 21, as he was being taken in the van to Forest Gate police station in east London on the fringes of the city's rioting last August. PC Alex MacFarlane also told Mauro Demetrio, 21,"You will always have black skin colour" and "Don't hide behind your colour", in comments the arrested man recorded on his mobile phone in east London last August, which were played to Southwark crown court on Monday.
One of the brief recordings features the voice of a Metropolitan police officer later identified as PC Alex MacFarlane, 53, using "nigger" as well as other phrases including: "You will always have black skin colour," "Don't hide behind your colour," and "Don't hide behind your black skin." The 53-year-old Metropolitan police constable was deliberately trying to "put Mr Demetrio in his place by demeaning him and distressing him", Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, told the jury.
A clearly agitated Demetrio can be heard shouting out MacFarlane's lapel number and promising to complain about the words, saying: "It's going to go all the way."
MacFarlane, who denies a racially aggravated public order offence, said later he was trying to "defuse the situation" by chatting to Demetrio, and was simply trying to explain he had not been targeted because of his skin colour, said Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting.
In fact, Atkinson said, the officer was trying to "put Mr Demetrio in his place by demeaning him and distressing him".
He said: "It is clear that this abuse was racially motivated, and was targeted and was intended. Such words were designed to cause – and did cause – distress and insult. They were designed to suggest to Mr Demetrio that he was inferior to the officer because of the colour of his skin."He said: "It is clear that this abuse was racially motivated, and was targeted and was intended. Such words were designed to cause – and did cause – distress and insult. They were designed to suggest to Mr Demetrio that he was inferior to the officer because of the colour of his skin."
MacFarlane had undergone diversity training, which would have made clear that "nigger" was an unacceptable word in any circumstances, Atkinson said, adding: "Whatever the circumstances, it is clear that the defendant was on duty and under obligation to remain calm and professional." In other comments saved on the phone, another officer in the van called Demetrio "a scumbag" and said he had throttled him "because you're a cunt". The recording was first revealed by the Guardian in March.
The incident began, Atkinson said, just before 6pm on 11 August last year when the officers stopped Demetrio and a friend as they drove their car through east London. Demetrio was arrested and handcuffed after the officers said they smelled cannabis. Though no evidence for this was later uncovered, a radio check found Demetrio was wanted for two outstanding warrants and he was arrested. MacFarlane has insisted his comments were not intended to be offensive and he had "wanted to try to defuse the situation" after Demetrio became agitated. In police interviews earlier this year, sections of which were read to the court, the officer said he had previously told other young black men not to hide behind their skin colour and this advice generally received a "positive response".
In the police van, Demetrio alleges, he was part-strangled and shoved against a window by another officer, Atkinson said. A doctor found evidence of neck bruising but no charges were brought in connection with this. The incident began on the early evening of 11 August last year, as days of rioting in the city began to tail off. Demetrio was in a car with a friend in east London when he was stopped for driving erratically by the police van carrying MacFarlane and around nine other officers.
However, Demetrio pulled his phone from a pocket and recorded an initial exchange with the other police officer, who responds to his shouts with: "Give it a rest, you're just a scumbag." Asked by Demetrio why he tried to strangle him, this officer replied: "I did strangle you." Asked why again, he replied: "Because you're a cunt," before adding that Demetrio had been struggling and kicking. Police said they could smell cannabis in the car and handcuffed Demetrio, taking him to their van. No drugs were later found but Demetrio was arrested after a radio check revealed he was wanted over two separate warrants, the court heard.
Giving evidence, Demetrio said he began the recording after enduring other abuse and mockery from some of the nine or 10 officers in the van, including references to them receiving oral sex from his mother and renditions of songs including The Wheels on the Bus. In the van, Demetrio alleges, he was part-strangled and shoved against a window by another officer, Atkinson said. A doctor found evidence of neck bruising but no charges were brought in connection with this,
After recording the first exchange, Demetrio said, he started the phone again and taped the conversation with MacFarlane. Asked how the officer's words made him feel he said: "It made me feel like shit, really. At that point it was, like, it can't get any worse. I felt violated." Demetrio pulled his phone from a pocket and recorded an initial exchange with the other policeman, who responded to his shouts with, "Give it a rest, you're just a scumbag." Asked by Demetrio why he tried to strangle him this officer replied, "I did strangle you." Asked why again, he replied: "Because you're a cunt," before adding that Demetrio had been struggling and kicking.
Demetrio accepted the tapes showed him shouting and being abusive – at one point he calls the officer who allegedly throttled him a "fat mug" – but said this was merely a response to the physical and verbal abuse he experienced. Giving evidence, Demetrio, of Beckton, east London, said he began the recording after enduring other abuse and mockery from some of the officers, including references to them going on holiday with his mother and receiving oral sex from her and renditions of songs including The Wheels on the Bus.
Atkinson told the court that in three initial police interviews earlier this year about his comments to Demetrio, MacFarlane said only that he had "engaged him in conversation" but that they began arguing. After recording the first exchange, Demetrio said, he started the phone again and taped the conversation with MacFarlane. Asked how the officer's words made him feel he said, "It made me feel like shit, really. At that point it was, like, it can't get any worse. I felt violated."
On being played the recording during a fourth interview MacFarlane said he believed he had heard Demetrio first use "nigger" when asking why he had been arrested but his white friend set free. MacFarlane said he had repeated the term, "thinking, probably wrongly, it was acceptable in the context of our exchange". After the comments Demetrio could be heard repeatedly shouting MacFarlane's lapel badge number and telling him he would lose his job.
Demetrio accepted the tapes showed him shouting and being abusive – at one point he calls the officer who allegedly throttled him a "fat mug" – but said this was a response to the physical and verbal abuse he experienced.
Atkinson told the court that in three initial police interviews earlier this year about his comments to Demetrio, MacFarlane said only that he had "engaged him in conversation" but that they began arguing. He said: "Sadly, it ended up in a bit of a slanging match between us. It all became a bit unpleasant."
On being played the recording during a fourth interview MacFarlane said he believed he had heard Demetrio first use "nigger" when asking why he had been arrested but his white friend set free. MacFarlane, based at Forest Gate station, east London, said he had repeated the term, "thinking, probably wrongly, it was acceptable in the context of our exchange".
Richard Atchley, defending, told the court that other officers in the van would testify that Demetrio "showered" them in abuse, some of it racist, homophobic and sexual in tone, including the repeated use of "white cunt". He stopped such language when he began recording. Demetrio said he could not recall using such terms.
MacFarlane was simply trying to persuade Demetrio that he was not being targeted due to his race, Atchley said, as shown by MacFarlane's later comment, "Be proud of who you are." Atchley asked Demetrio if he knew that this was once a Black Panther slogan. Demetrio replied: "Your points don't make sense."
The court also heard from Rob Jones, who gave MacFarlane diversity and race relations training in 2001. Asked about the use of "nigger", he said: "No matter what is said in the street, no Metropolitan police officer should ever use that kind of word."
MacFarlane denies intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress to Demetrio and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.MacFarlane denies intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress to Demetrio and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.
The trial, which is expected to last two to three days, continues.The trial, which is expected to last two to three days, continues.