Beautiful Border
kiwifarms.net
Racist troll sentenced over vile tweets targeting Mo Salah
Gary Hyland sent several racist posts targeting Muslims and Liverpool players using his Twitter account
A racist Twitter user was given 200 hours of unpaid community work for racially abusing Liverpool star Mo Salah. Gary Hyland was arrested after making the aggravated posts during an online discussion about the rival clubs, with a number of Liverpool supporters. The 32-year-old Everton fan, from Bootle, became racially abusive throughout the conversation, most of which happened in the early hours of the morning. In the tweets, Hyland 'joked' about the player, who is a Muslim, praying to Mecca at half time and sent altered images of the whole team praying to Allah. Both Liverpool and Everton fans jumped to Salah's defence and accused Hyland of mindless racist abuse.
During the discussion, another person said: “What’s the issue with Muslims lad. Can you even articulate it? “ In response to this, Hyland sent a picture of Salah at Chelsea FC’s ground, a suicide vest had been superimposed on the top part of the player’s body . He sent further altered images that poked fun at people praying to Allah.
The tweets were reported to Merseyside Police and two days later, Hyland was arrested at his home. Hyland later said to officers: “I know I'll get charged. It was me.” He pleaded guilty to racially and religiously aggravated intentional harassment at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on 9 August 2019. He also pleaded guilty to a further charge of obstructing an officer in the execution of his duty.
Today, on August 30, Hyland was sentenced to a six week jail term, which was suspended for 12 months. The case was prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service as a Hate Crime. Hyland's sentence was increased from four weeks to six weeks because of the racial/ religious element of the harassment. He was also sentenced to 28 days imprisonment for obstructing the police officer.This will run alongside the other jail term and was also suspended for 12 months. Hyland must also do 200 hours of unpaid work in the community as part of his sentence and 14 days of a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, including attending a Promoting Human Dignity Course. He must pay costs and a £122 victim surcharge.
Angela Conlan of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: “When police came to arrest Hyland at his home and asked for his mobile phone, he said he couldn’t find it. "His partner said it was on the couch and Hyland became really agitated and starting shouting at her, until he eventually retrieved it from under a cushion. He pleaded guilty and admitted what he’d done was stupid. These sorts of remarks fuel racial hatred and are extremely offensive to people from the race or religion that they are aimed at. Mohammed Salah does not deserve to be the object of abuse, and neither does any person in a civilised society. The tweets were sent in the early hours of the morning and Hyland turned a discussion into a racist rant. That is not acceptable. Let this be a lesson to everyone that words can hurt and society has standards that must be upheld.”
An Everton spokesman said: "Everton condemns in the strongest terms any kind of racism. "We have shared the material with the appropriate authorities and are looking into the matter further to understand if the Twitter user in question is known to the Club in any way." Ms Leyland objected to the Blues fan being granted bail, insisting he could carry out further offences, had not surrendered his mobile phone properly and should be remanded in custody for his "own protection." Ms Leyland said: "The tweets were very offensive and upsetting. His own safety would be at risk."
