Man sentenced to 10-week suspended prison sentence for racist attack on teacher in Stockport | Greater Manchester

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A former soldier who pleaded guilty to a racist assault after chasing a teacher down the street with two umbrellas and using a racial slur has been given a 10-week suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay his victim £300.

Robert Browne, 56, pleaded guilty last month at Tameside Magistrates’ Court to racially/religiously aggravated assault/battery on July 25 this year after video showed him train hurling racial slurs at Shabir Makim, 40, and hitting him with umbrellas.

During a sentencing hearing in court on Thursday, Browne apologized and admitted he had been under the influence of alcohol when he committed the assault.

I apologize for my behavior that day. It was unacceptable, he said. The court heard that he had recently been diagnosed with PTSD.

Makim, however, said justice had not been served.

He was assaulted and verbally abused after intervening when Browne and another man were involved in a heated exchange with a homeless beggar outside a Tesco store in Cheadle, Stockport, Greater Manchester. Makim filmed the incident on his phone as he feared it would get out of hand.

Browne got mad at Makim for the shooting and started chasing him down the street and hitting him on the head with the umbrellas.

Makim shared the video with his friends and family in a WhatsApp group and one of them posted it on social media. It received 1.5 million views on Twitter. In the video, Browne can also be heard repeatedly hurling racial slurs at Makim.

Magistrate Catherine Meek said the offense was serious and of a protracted and persistent nature. Besides the racially aggravating factors, she said, there was wanton degradation of the victim. She said the video was pretty awful to watch.

But responding to the sentence, Makim said: I don’t feel justice was done today. A former army officer called me Paki, threatened to kill me, attacked me and changed my life forever, but he was not sentenced to prison.

He received a suspended sentence and walked free from court this afternoon. I did the right thing, recorded the incident as evidence, didn’t fight back, called the police.

But I don’t feel protected by the law. What message does today’s sentence give to those who share the same values ​​as Robert Browne? Behave as you see fit with people of color and you’ll only get a suspended sentence.

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