The Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday that Rian Golding shouted a number of insults at the minister, including ‘Go back to your own country’ and calling him a ‘f***ing terrorist’.
Golding was given 110 hours of community service and a 12-month probation order, while Magistrate Bridget Shaw said that he had behaved ‘appallingly’.
The court heard from Centenier Tony Batho that the victim had been so scared that he ran inside the One Stop Café to seek shelter after Golding aggressively went towards him and two other men.
‘He was reduced to tears and the incident has left him feeling no longer safe in Jersey,’ said the Centenier.
The court heard that Golding, who was 19 at the time of the offence, ran towards the minister and shouted: ‘If I see you again, I will hit you.’
The racist attack was the third incident in a matter of minutes, as Golding went on a rampage shortly before 10.30 pm on 4 July. Moments earlier he had thrown a man against a van, causing over £450 worth of damage to the vehicle. And immediately preceding that assault he had walked into the Clock Café at Cheapside, picked up a bottle of olive oil and went to walk out with it before being challenged.
The court heard that it was the van owner who reported Golding to the police and followed him until he was arrested in Parade Gardens. And when police officers tried to detain him, he resisted arrest.
The defendant, who is now aged 20, also admitted a raft of other offences including pushing his mother over in her own home on the night of 6 August after she told him to stop arguing with his girlfriend. The woman hit her head on the corner of a sofa as a result of the assault.
He was also dealt with for walking into the Marks & Spencer store at St Peter on the afternoon of 13 August and shoplifting a number of items from the shelves. When he was confronted by a store security guard outside, Golding dropped the bag containing food worth £27 and ran off. The court heard that he then jumped into a getaway car being driven by a woman shouting ‘Go, go, go’.
Advocate James Bell, defending, said that Golding knew the racist offending was ‘wholly unacceptable’ and the defendant had described his own behaviour as ‘disgusting’.
‘He would like to apologise directly to the man he verbally abused by writing a letter or do so through the restorative justice process,’ he said. The lawyer said that CCTV pictures showed the confrontation with the three men had been brief.
Golding was also ordered to pay £468 in compensation for the damage caused to the van and was banned from licensed premises for six months.
Mrs Shaw said that Golding was being given a final chance as a young offender but added: ‘You have a shocking record for one so young and particularly for violence towards other people.’
