Racer didn’t like drift of conversation
● A photoshopped caricature with a penis grafted onto a racing driver’s nose and him being called a “porra” are at the heart of a dispute between two professional “drifters” in the Durban Equality Court.
Drifting is a technique in which a driver intentionally oversteers on a corner.
The caricature forms part of Paolo Gouveia’s complaint against rival competitor Jean Mare, who he has accused of belittling, humiliating and insulting him on social media.
Gouveia, a self-employed highperformance vehicle builder and part-time professional drifter, wants the court to order the director of public prosecutions to prosecute Mare for using hate speech in a WhatsApp motor racing group in July.
Swearword
His main complaint is that Mare called him a porra, which the Portuguese South African says in court documents is an expletive or swearword.
“The context that the respondent used when referring to me as a porra clearly suggests that his use of the term is such that it was designed to discriminate against me and insult, harm, impair my dignity on the basis of my race or heritage or culture [because I] belong to the Portuguese community,” Gouveia said in his affidavit.
He provided screenshots of the WhatsApp group interaction during which Mare also allegedly threatened to beat him up and then posted the crude caricature.
Gouveia said Mare posted the following insults to the chat group: “I strongly suggest you stay the f**k away Porra”; “Porra, you’re very quiet?? Jou ma se p**s”; and “If you see me, run porra, run”.
According to the screenshots, Mare told Gouveia “U have no idea who you are f**king with mate” after Gouveia posted a photograph of the cover of the police docket opened against Mare.
Gouveia opened a case of crimen injuria against Mare at Westville police station in Durban.
He wants the Durban Equality Court to declare Mare’s utterances to be hate speech and to restrain him from impairing Gouveia’s dignity and harassing and intimidating him.
Apology and damages
Gouveia also wants an apology and damages in an amount set by the court.
In his answering affidavit, Mare denied the allegations, stating that he had been provoked by two messages Gouveia had posted earlier on another public forum.
He also denied knowledge of the photoshopped caricature.
According to his affidavit, Mare “lacked the necessary wrongful intention to constitute hate speech”.
His post “Porra, you’re very quiet?? Jou ma se p**s” was merely a tactic common used among racing drivers.
“The applicant and respondent belong to two different racing teams which are direct competitors and as such these occurrences arise,” Mare said in court papers.
“However, it is in no way to act in an unlawful manner but rather a tactic to bolster the sport.”
He said that following the online altercation, a court of inquiry had been held by Motorsport South Africa and Gouveia and he were both given suspended five-year sentences in respect of their racing licences and ordered to pay a R5 000 fine each.
The Durban Equality Court will hear the matter next month.