A Pembroke man has appeared in court charged with racially abusing a police officer in the town.
Twenty-one-year-old Thomas Daniel Kincaid Sheehan, of Strongbow Walk, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to plead guilty to the charge, following an incident in Main Street, Pembroke on October 7.
Prosecutor Abul Hussain told the court that police officers were in attendance at an incident that was ongoing outside a nightclub in the town.
“Officers came across the defendant and told him to calm down, but he wasn’t taking their advice, and was swearing and shouting, before Mr. Sheehan used racist language towards one of the officers,” he explained.
Defence solicitor Mike Kelleher told the court that his client apologises very much for his actions, and explained that Mr. Sheehan said ‘I shouldn’t have called him that’ in his caution reply towards officers.
“The incident took place outside a nightclub, where there was a number of other incidents going on, and Mr. Sheehan’s little sister had been struck by someone, and he was trying to stop her from hitting back.
“He wanted the police to intervene, and it was very convoluted at the time, with so much going on, so he used the language he did to try and get the police to assist him,” he continued.
After his arrest, Mr. Sheehan said in a police interview that he was ‘not a racist’.
Magistrates said that it was ‘not a very pleasant offence’, before fining Mr. Sheehan £120.
He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.