A customer in a Swansea pub threw bar stools at the English landlady of the bar in a racially-aggravated assault, a court has heard. Craig Davies called his victim an “English b****” and threated to return to rob the establishment after being told to leave because of his drunken behaviour.
Swansea Crown Crown heard that after leaving the pub Davies racially abused a taxi driver from the Indian subcontinent forcing the cabbie to stop the vehicle and order him out. The court heard the defendant has a “significant offending history” with 31 previous convictions for 46 offences including two domestic assaults, criminal damage, and a racially-aggravated public order matter involving a police officer.
Regan Walters, prosecuting, said on the afternoon of August 20 this year Davies was drinking in the Builders Arms pub in the Sandfields area of Swansea. He said the defendant appeared drunk was wandering around the pub picking up pints from tables and drinking them and as a result was warned about his behaviour. The prosecutor said Davies replied to the landlady: “What are you going to do? It’s my town and it’s my pub.”
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The court heard that as a result of his behaviour Davies was told he would not be served any more and was asked to leave to which he replied with: “Do you know who I am?” before picking up bar stools and hurling them at the landlady. The court heard one of the stools hit the woman on the top of her head. As Davies was being pushed towards the door of the pub he shouted: “I will come back and smash the pub and rob it you English b****.” He then left the premises.
The prosecutor said at around 7pm that evening the defendant was picked up by a taxi from an address in Llangyfelach Road in Swansea and that as soon as he got into the vehicle he began asking the driver where he was from and how long he had been in the country. The court heard the comments made the cabbie feel unsafe and after driving for only around 200m he stopped the taxi and asked the passenger to get out. Davies refused to alight from the car and launched into series of racial slurs including the P-word. He then told the cabbie to “leave my f****** country”. The police were called and 42-year-old Davies was arrested. He subsequently answered “no comment” to all questions asked during his interview. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here.
The court heard details of a victim impact statement from the landlady in which she said she had worked in pubs for 25 years but had never experienced anything like the events of August 20 before. She said she used to like to sit and chat to customers during the course of her days but no longer felt safe doing so and said she had made inquiries about moving back to Liverpool.
Craig Christopher Davies, of Clas y Bedw, Waunarlwydd, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to a racially-aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage to beer pumps on the pub bar which were damaged by the flying stools, and a racially-aggravated public order offence when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has what the prosecutor termed a “significant offending history” with 31 previous convictions for 46 offences including two domestic assaults, criminal damage, and a racially-aggravated public order matter involving a police officer.
Caitlin Brazel, for Davies, said the defendant engaged in the unhealthy consumption of alcohol and used it as coping mechanism in times of distress. She said on the day in question the defendant had been to see his seriously-ill sister in hospital and in the emotional state he was in he had turned to alcohol. The barrister said the self-employed roofer had expressed his remorse and shame for his offending to the author of the pre-sentence report.
Judge Catherine Richards said the defendant had a history of abusive and violent behaviour while in drink and said he had not tackled the root cause of the violence namely alcohol. She said she could not see a realistic prospect of rehabilitation for Davies at the present time. With one-third discounts for his guilty pleas Davies was sentenced to 14 months in prison for the assault and two months for public order offence in the taxi to run concurrently. No separate penalty was imposed for the criminal damage matters. Since September 2024 most defendants have served 40% of their sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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