Man fined for abuse and assault outside Sussex kebab shop

Online news site Crawley News reports on a fine imposed on a man who hurled racist abuse at one man and punched another man in the face outside a kebab shop in Sussex.

George Maguire, 22, was heard shouting “p*** c***” outside The Kebab Shop in Horsham.

The victim was Iranian man who was out with two friends, one of whom,

Christean Wright, confronted Mr Maguire about the verbal abuse but was punched in the face.

Crawley Magistrates’ Court heard that the third member of the group, Lauren Clark, was pushed to the ground by Mr Maguire.

Maguire admitted two counts of assault by beating and one count of racially aggravated words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress but claimed that his assault was provoked by someone pushing him to the ground and in attacking Mr Wright, he may have hit the wrong person.

Explaining the incident to the court, prosecutor Melanie Wotton said: “The complainants, Miss Clark and Mr Wright, had been out for an evening. They were with another friend, who is Iranian. They arrived at The Best Kebab, then Mr Maguire arrived and he was heard shouting towards their friend ‘p*** c***’.”

Ms Wotton went on to explain that Mr Maguire pushed Miss Clark and then went over to Mr Wright and punched him in the face. She added: “A police officer was nearby and heard what was going on and arrested Mr Maguire at the scene.”

Mr George White, mitigating for Maguire, said that his client had been at a club or a bar earlier in the evening during which he had been involved in an incident with two Asian men who had “duffed him up”.  He explained that Mr Maguire’s racist comments were referring to that incident rather than being aimed at the Iranian man.

Mr White went on to explain that Mr Maguire was pushed to the ground during the incident outside The Kebab Shop and jumped up and punched someone assuming it was the person who had pushed him. He added: “The person he makes contact with is possibly not the person who pushed him – we just don’t know.”

At Crawley Magistrates’ Court, Mr Maguire was fined £140 for the assault on Mr Wright and ordered to pay £100 in compensation to him for bruising to the eye caused by the assault.

He received a fine of £90 for his assault on Miss Clark, which the court accepted was reckless rather than intentional. For the racially aggravated verbal abuse charge he received a fine of £140. Mr Maguire also received a fine of £90 for obstructing a police officer during his arrest and was ordered to pay an additional cost of £85 to the court and a £20 victim surcharge.