23/08/2019
Paul Bussetti, a man who filmed a model of Grenfell Tower being set on fire as part of a group's Bonfire Night celebrations, has been acquitted after claiming the stunt was “funny” and not racist.
Bussetti told Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the figures of people stuck in the windows of the burning model, which was labelled as Grenfell Tower, did not represent the 72 victims of the 2017 disaster.and that the effigy was set alight at a bonfire party as a “joke” aimed at poking fun at the group of friends.
He was cleared of Communications Act offences after new evidence emerged showing that a second video of the burning had been taken and it was not possible to be sure if the video the court had seen was the one that Bussetti had filmed and shared.
I'm not quite sure why that matters.
Bussetti admitted filming the burning of the effigy and sharing it with a select group of friends via two WhatsApp groups. The fact that these groups contained there that were at the party and friends, should not be an excuse; it was still a clear case of sending grossly offensive material.
The suggestion that Bussetti was too 'scared' and 'nervous' to explain that he and his friends were the ones depicted in the burning building to police during the initial investigation is hard to believe.
Rather than releasing Bussetti, the authorities should have been actively identifying and prosecuting others who filmed and shared the video with obvious malicious intent.
Apparently, the WhatsApp groups were littered with racist intent, leaving little doubt about the xenophobic hatred that motivated Bussetti to film and share the vile video.
Bussetti also told the court that he received 1,000s of images each week on WhatsApp and that he forwards some of them to other people and groups without looking at them. Why? Why would anyone share content without first viewing it, unless they knew exactly what sort of content it was and were intent on spreading a 'message'?
Everything in this case points towards Bussetti and his friends being xenophobic hate mongers engaged in sharing their abhorrent views and radicalising weak and vulnerable people.
I sincerely hope they are now on a 'watch-list'.
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