Man ‘racially abused security guard’
AMAN racially abused a security guard after being barred from a Morrisons store before returning minutes later brandishing a hammer, a court has heard.
Darren Lee Minshull, 43, of Irwell Street, Bacup appeared at Burnley Crown Court charged with two Section 4 public order offences. The court was told that magistrates court documents from an earlier hearing showed Minshull indicated guilty pleas to two public order offences towards store security officer Adnan Qaiser in Bacup and that one of these offences was racially aggravated.
Prosecutor Stephen Parker told Judge Sara Dodd that a mix up with documents from the earlier magistrates hearing meant that the charges were incorrectly recorded on the court system, with no charge relating to the use of the hammer ever having been put to him. Judge Dodd said: “The state of the case sent from magistrates is far from satisfactory.”
Both the prosecution and defence agreed that the case was unable to proceed to sentence on the day.
Judge Dodd sent the case back to magistrates for review.
The court heard that Minshull had been ejected from the Morrisons store on Lee Street on Friday, March 30. Mr Parker said that the two offences were ‘10 to 15 minutes apart’ and came after Minshull was asked to leave the store. It is claimed that the defendant used racial language to abuse Mr Qaiser.
Mr Parker said that Minshull then left the area but returned minutes later holding the hammer.
He told the court: “He brandished the hammer, he did not use it or thrust it towards anyone.
“He was using it to frighten. He waved it and hit a fence panel and post with it.”
Daniel Prowse, defending, said his client had been an alcoholic most of his life and continued to have problems in that area. He said Minshull had ‘no recollection whatsoever of what was said’ during the original incident.
Mr Prowse said: “My client accepts that if witnesses said that he used those words he must have said them. He does not dispute the use of racist language as alleged by witnesses.”
The court heard that CCTV footage of the incidents would be made available to the court.