A city councillor here has been found guilty of racially insulting an Indian-origin colleague by calling the latter a “coconut” during a heated debate at the council chamber last year.
Shirley Brown, a Liberal Democrat councillor of Afro-Caribbean origin, called Conservative councillor Jay Jethwa a “coconut”, which is a pejorative term that suggests someone from an ethnic minority has “sold out” their culture, implying that the person is “brown on the outside, white on the inside”.
During the debate, Ms Jethwa had called for the annual grant of £250,000 for ethnic minority groups in the town to be abolished, prompting strong protest from Ms Brown.
At the Bristol magistrates court, Ms Brown given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £620 costs after being convicted of directing the racist slur.
District judge Simon Cook concluded that Ms Brown had made a calculated effort to upset her rival by using the insult.
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Briton rapped for abusing cop
London, June 29: A Briton has been penalised for racially abusing a senior Indian-origin policeman from the London borough of Harrow and for trying intimidate the latter along with his two friends.
Chief Superintendent Dal Babu, borough commander for Harrow, was forced to endure the racial slurs from Michael Dimaio on May 15 as he made his way to the church in St Albans.
Dimaio, 24, who was with his friend Michael Healy and a third man, was outside a pub when Mr Babu walked by just after 7.30 pm. —PTI