Man who 'blacked up' at work party has conviction overturned after judge rules he meant to 'entertain and not cause upset'
'The court found the experience of watching the recorded evidence excruciating,' says judge
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A man who blacked up as a minstrel performer at an office party has had his hate crime conviction overturned.
Brian Davies had been ordered to pay £450 in February for painting his face and directing a “racist” song and dance routine at the woman.
But a judge has now said that while Mr Davies was not “a man of profound intelligence, wisdom or judgment”, it was not clear he had intended to be abusive toward head chef Loretta Doyley in the performance at the Priory Group Christmas party.
Clearing him of racially aggravated threatening words or behaviour, Judge David Wynn Morgan said Cardiff Crown Court “deplored” the 62-year-old’s actions, but concluded the maintenance engineer’s intention was to “entertain and not cause upset”.
He said: “The court is not persuaded on the basis of the criminal burden and standard of proof that the appellant intended his behaviour to be threatening or abusive towards the complainant and that he intended and demonstrated hostility, or was motivated by hostility, towards her based upon her membership of a racial group different to his.
“The court does not, emphatically, condone the appellant’s behaviour. The court deplores it. The court found the experience of watching the recorded evidence excruciating.”
The judge said the song and dance routine constituted a “grotesque lapse of taste”.
At a previous hearing Mr Davies denied he knew The Black And White Minstrel Show, which his routine referenced, was now seen as “derogatory and demeaning to black people”.
He said: “It didn’t even cross my mind. I didn’t even think of anything racist. I just thought I was dressing up as something that used to be on telly on a Sunday night.”
The court was shown footage from the incident on 20 December at Cooper’s Carvery, with Mr Davies wearing black face paint, white paint around his eyes and mouth, a straw boater hat, and swinging a cane while dancing and singing the song "Mammy" in the direction of Ms Doyley.
Prosecutor Suzanne Payne had told Mr Davies the show had not appeared on British television for years as it was deemed “derogatory and demeaning to black people”.
She said: “You could see as you were dancing and singing around her she was upset by you. You knew by dancing around singing that you were being abusive to her. And that was your intention.”
Ms Doyley, who worked with Mr Davies at Ty Catrin, a facility run by mental healthcare provider The Priory Group, said Mr Davies had repeatedly asked her to go the Christmas party after she had initially declined.
She told the court: “I felt humiliated and wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. I felt because everyone was laughing I went into shock and I felt myself laughing as well, not because it was funny, I just didn’t know how else to act.”
Additional reporting by Press Association