Antrim man freed on bonfire '˜race hate' charge

Freeing 19-year-old Colin White at the town’s magistrates’ court, District Judge Alan White told the teenager: “Notwithstanding the serious nature of the charges, you were led and influenced by others and their hateful agenda. Perhaps by your personal difficulties you didn’t understand the implication of it.”

At the end of his trial last month White, from Farmhill in the town, was convicted by Judge White of inciting hatred by placing offensive material on the huge 11th night bonfire in the Ballycraigy estate.

On a divan bedstead on the massive pyre White declared: “We’re not racist, just don’t like n****rs.”

The court was told a man took photos of the Ballycraigy bonfire and noticed the divan with no writing on it but after three people approached it he could see that White was the only person whose arms were moving and afterwards there was graffiti.

White did not deny being present at the bonfire but denied he had written the message.

Speaking when he convicted him, the judge said White was guilty of “pernicious conduct” in a society were there are almost weekly race attacks with people being put out of their homes, adding that such incidents can be “stirred up by this type of behaviour”.

Making his plea in mitigation on Tuesday, defence barrister Aaron Thompson revealed that father-of-one White now admitted his guilt, submitting that he “will do anything that makes him think he will fit into his peer group”.

Describing the incident as “unsavoury,” the lawyer further revealed that as a result of his conviction, White had lost his job and will suffer the consequences “for many years”.

“It was a stupid act in fit in,” said Mr Thompson, adding that White had been “stupid enough to go in front of a photographer in daytime and spray this ... nothing explains away the public horror in this”.

Imposing the probation order, Judge White told the defendant that if he cooperated with probation, “you can get back on track and get away from this hateful behaviour which is causing so much distress in this community”.