Drunk man who spouted anti-Muslim abuse fined by court

The South Wales Evening Post reports on the sentencing of a man who spouted anti-Muslim abuse outside a bar following the Wales vs Portugal Euro2016 football match on 6 July.

Manjit Johal, 35, had “consumed alcohol to excess” when he began approaching police officers on patrol in the city centre and “asking them questions about policing and about religion, and telling them he was a Sikh.”

Johal was swearing outside the Walkabout bar in Swansea, where people were singing football songs, when officers told him to desist from using rude language in public. The local paper reports that Johal ignored the warnings and began to utter swear words about Muslims and was arrested by officers for a public order offence.

Appearing before Swansea magistrates’ court, Johal pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated public offence. He was fined £300 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £30 surcharge.

The court heard that the offence occurred less than two months after Johal was handed a suspended prison sentence for theft. Mitigating for Johal, solicitor Craig Davies said alcohol had “been a factor” in his client’s conduct during the incident last month.