A sculpture of UK slave trader Edward Colston removed by anti-racism protesters in Bristol was replaced with one of Jen Reid who helped pull it down n July 15, 2020. AFP
A British court cleared four people on January 5 of criminal damage for pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol in 2020.
The jury in the western English city cleared the defendants – three men and a woman – after they had pleaded not guilty.
The quartet admitted taking part in the protest that saw the colonial-era slave trader’s statue thrown into Bristol harbour at the height of anti-racist protests in June 2020.
There were cheers from the packed public gallery as the verdicts were returned following a two-week trial.
Three of the defendants wore T-shirts designed by world-famous artist and Bristol native Banksy to raise funds for their legal fees.
Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Jake Skuse and Sage Willoughby admitted their involvement but said that the statue of the 17th-century trader itself was a hate crime.
Three of the accused were caught on security camera footage attaching the ropes to the statue that were used to pull it down, while the fourth orchestrated the plan to throw it into the water.
Outside court, Graham thanked everyone who protested on the day “in the name of equality”.
“One thing we know now is that Colston does not represent us,” she said.
The Bristol protests followed demonstrations in the US over the police killing of unarmed African American father George Floyd.
The damage caused by the toppling of the statue was estimated at around €4,700 ($5,300).
Skuse’s lawyer said that the defendants should never have been prosecuted.
“It is shameful that Bristol City Council did not take down the statue of slaver Edward Colston that had caused such offence to people in Bristol and equally shameful that they then supported the prosecution of these defendants,” Raj Chada said in a statement.
The court was told that there had been campaigns in Bristol to have the statue removed since the 1920s.
Nobody in Bristol was arrested at the time of the statue toppling, with the four eventually charged in December 2020 with damaging property belonging to the council.
While the prosecution said the question of who Colston had been was irrelevant, the defence said his legacy was vital to decide the case.
The jury was told that Colston was involved in the enslavement and transportation of more than 80,000 people, including almost 10,000 children.
Around 19,000 of the slaves died on ships bound for the Americas and the Caribbean.
Graham’s lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh said the case “demonstrates the fundamental importance of trial by jury”.
“That is because juries represent the collective sense of justice of the community,” she said.
“In this case, they determined that a conviction for the removal of this statue – that glorified a slave trader involved in the enslavement of over 84,000 black men, women and children as a ‘most virtuous and wise’ man – would not be proportionate.”
On Twitter, Save Our Statues said that the verdict “not only gives the green light to political vandalism, but also legitimises the divisive identity politics it helped succour”.
