Racist abuse case dismissed after witnesses fail to attend court

The Exeter Express and Echo reports that a man charged with offences of racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour against a Turkish kebab shop worker was cleared after two witnesses failed to show up in court.

Craig Longstaff, 44, was charged in connection with the incident at Exmouth Kebab House on 12 July. Longstaff was alleged to have called shop worker Kemal Kilic a “n****r”.

Longstaff, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was due to stand trial at Exmouth magistrates’ court yesterday but Kemal Kilic and his brother, Mehmet Kilic, failed to attend court.

Prosecutor Shaun Tipton asked magistrates to adjourn the case so that the witnesses could be contacted but the request was denied.

Mr Longstaff was sentenced for a separate assault at a branch of the Halifax bank in Exmouth on July 1, 2016.

He pleaded guilty to pushing Russel Buer to the floor in the bank after “mistaken allegations” and was ordered to pay £200 including £50 compensation.

Exmouth magistrates’ court also gave him a conditional discharge, calling the assault an “unprovoked attack on a person who you didn’t know”.