Man sentenced for racist abuse and criminal damage at Shotton kebab shop

Local paper, The Leader, reports on the sentencing of a man for a racially aggravated public order offence and criminal damage after he abused the manager of a kebab shop in Deeside and threw a bottle through the shop window.

Flintshire Magistrates Court heard that Keith Alan Hibbert , 29, entered the Shotton Take Away in Chester Road West at around 8.30pm on 14 December 2015 in a drunken state. Hibbert was asked by the takeaway shop manager, Tahir Konuksever, whether he wanted to place a food order but Hibbert said he didn’t want food and started shouting abuse about “Turkish people and Muslims”.

The court heard that Hibbert spoke of “killing them all” and railed “you foreign people, you stay in my country”. Customers in the shop at the time were alarmed by his behaviour and Hibbert was asked to leave. But Hibbert left only to return and throw a bottle through the shop window causing damage.

The shop owner, Arikan Ongun, who was upstairs at the time came down and on being told what had happened, went in search of Hibbert. He found him in a Wetherspoons pub nearby and took him back to the shop where Hibbert was arrested by officers. Tahir Konuksever, who has been manager of the shop for 10 years, told officers in his statement that he did not go to work to be racially abused.

In court, Hibbert apologised for his behaviour and denied being a racist. He acknowledged being drunk at the time of the incident but had no recollection of the verbal abuse he had uttered claiming that he was a member of an anti-racist group.

Flintshire Magistrates Court imposed a 12- month community order with rehabilitation to tackle alcohol and drug issues. Hibbert was ordered to pay £730 for the smashed window with £85 costs and a £15 surcharge.