Bizarre
The guys may have been racist in their language/comments...but turning it into a criminal offense? Insanity. All too often the lunatics are running the asylum in Britain, and (dare I say it) America.
My prediction is that it's only a short period of time before we'll have this foolishness here.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=414386&in_page_id=1770Fury as 'Jellybaby Two' cleared of all charges
Two London Underground workers charged with racial harassment after they joked about a bag of Jelly Babies have branded their trial a farce after they were cleared.
The eight day trial is estimated to have cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds. Carlo Rozza and Victor Cooney denied taunting black colleague Daniel Jean-Marie with a bag of Jelly Babies.
Tube workers cleared of 'Jelly Baby racism' after £250,000 trial
They were accused of making jokes about black jelly babies and threatening to bite their heads off.
Speaking outside Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court Mr Cooney, 47 said the verdict was a "victory for common sense".
The dad, who has an 11 year old son and a 13 year old daughter, said: "The trial has been a complete farce.
"The whole thing has been a disgrace. Two-and-a-half years of my life has been wasted.
"I'm a man of good character, I've worked at London Underground for 28 years and I've never had a single complaint in all that time.
"The trial has screwed up my marriage as I didn't pay enough attention to my wife, though thankfully we are still together, and I've missed two and a half years of my children growing up-all for a row over Jelly Babies.
"The verdict is a victory for common sense. This sort of trial should not even be taking place. It's a complete waste of taxpayers money."
In a statement read out in court Mr Cooney said said racial banter had been commonplace between him and Mr Jean-Marie.
Mr Cooney said: "This is the relationship that myself and Daniel have had. Daniel and I have always got on very well with each other, and there's been a lot of racial banter.
"Daniel has pointed me out to his friends as being racist. He said to me 'Are you reading another Adolf Hitler book?'. It's just messing around, joking. It's quite fun and he carries it off well.
"One time I gave Daniel a bag of Jelly Babies three or four years ago and Daniel called me a racist because there was too many black Jelly Babies in the bag.
"I realised in the end Daniel had pushed it too far."
When asked by a police officer to whom he gave his statement: "Did you say anything about Jelly Babies? Anything about cutting their heads off? Anything about black or lime Jelly Babies that could have been misconstrued?", Mr Cooney replied no each time.
He added: "I made no reference to cutting Jelly Babies' heads off. It's nonsense, it's a joke. Carlo knew about this ongoing joke between me and Daniel, he just jumped on the bandwagon."
During the trial Mr Rozza, 45, told the court how in January 2004 at Caledonian Road tube station he had walked into a staffroom to find Mr Cooney and Mr Jean-Marie engaging in banter.
He said: "I think they were joking about Jelly Babies. Eventually I became involved and asked Vic for a Jelly Baby."
His lawyer David Barnes asked: "Any particular colour?" to which Rozza replied: "I asked him for black Jelly Babies".
He added: "Mr Jean-Marie became angry, stormed out of the room and told Rozza to '*expletive deleted*ck off'." He said: "We are talking about a bag of sweets, a bag of Jelly Babies, and three years later and I'm in a court. Why?"
After a complaint was made the pair were suspended, Mr Cooney for three months and Mr Rozza for eight months, but returned to work after they were cleared following an internal investigation.
At Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court the two men, who both received Legal Aid, wept and hugged as they were cleared of racial harassment.
The jury took just one hour to find the colleagues not guilty.
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "This was a serious allegation of racial abuse.
"We respect fully the verdict of the jury."
