Polish man arrested by immigration officials after court judgement in race hate attack

The Daily Echo reports on the arrest of a Polish man by immigration officials as he walked away from court minutes before having been handed a suspended sentence for abusing a Muslim customer at a McDonalds restaurant in Shirley High Street, Southampton.

Cezary Posylek, 45, was arrested at Southampton Magistrates’ court just as the court ruled on his guilty plea to three charges, assaulting a police officer, racially or religiously aggravating fear or provocation, and common assault.

Prosecutor Samantha Wright, told the court that Posylek walked to into the McDonalds store and slammed down an Easter egg at a table where three customers were sat. He then asked one of the customers, Abdul Mir, if he was a Muslim.

Wright explained to the court that Posylek told Mir, “If you are Muslim…’, he then takes his finger and brushes it across his neck.”

In a victim statement from Mir read by Wright to the court, Mir stated he was “fearful that he was going to be assaulted”.

Wright added, “He [Posylek] looked full of hate, and the victim was alarmed by his behaviour.”

Posylek is said to have then walked to the back of the restaurant and thrown the Easter egg, which he claimed was a Christian symbol, at the customers missing them and hitting the corner wall of the restaurant.

Posylek kicked one of the customers who tried to restrain him. “Posylek had to be dragged from the restaurant while he lashed out and shouted obscenities,” according to the local paper.

Posylek entered a not guilty plea to the three charges, assaulting a police officer, racially or religiously aggravating fear or provocation, and assaulting another victim, but changed this to guilty when he appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ court on 14 October.

Posylek was handed a 16 week custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months and ordered to pay a total £850 in costs.

But as he left court, he was detained by Immigration Enforcement Officers for “not exercising his EU treaty rights”.

A Home Office spokesperson said, “We are determined to take decisive action against EEA nationals who abuse their stay in the UK, including enforcing their removal.”