Hate Crime Awareness Week: CPS Cymru/Wales

Hate crime can take many forms from shouting abuse to hate fuelled violence or targeted harassment over long periods of time, and the CPS are committed to working with the police and our community partners in order to address it.

During Hate Crime Awareness Week (10-16 October) the CPS aims to raise the public’s awareness of what hate crime is and how we deal with these sometimes difficult cases.

Recently in Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court a man was sentenced for using derogatory terms about another customer’s ethnicity whilst at a supermarket, and also for making racially aggravated comments in the communal area of a block of flats.

The CPS provided charging advice on the case and presented the evidence to the court.  After hearing all the evidence the court found the defendant guilty, sentencing the man to six weeks’ imprisonment.

The court had considered imposing a community order but the sentence was increased to reflect the seriousness of the racial abuse.

Ed Marsh of the CPS said: “The CPS takes allegations of hate crime very seriously. Racist language of this kind is simply unacceptable in a modern society. I am grateful to the witnesses in this case for coming forward and supporting a prosecution.

“Our prosecutors receive specialised training on how to deal with hate crime, reminding the courts to apply sentence uplifts to reflect how serious these offences are.

“We will continue to engage with local communities and our partners in the Criminal Justice System to support the victims and witnesses through the prosecution process.”