Four cleared of criminal damage over toppling of slave trader statue

By Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN

Four people have been cleared of causing criminal damage to a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, which was pulled down and thrown into England’s River Avon, PA Media news agency reports.

Demonstrators in the city of Bristol tied the bronze monument with rope before tearing it down during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7, 2020.

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, were seen on CCTV footage putting the ropes around the statue before it was removed from its position. Jake Skuse, 33, was alleged to have masterminded the idea to push it into the harbor.

The statue sustained approximately £3,750 ($5,093) in damage — including the loss of its staff and a coat tail — while the bridge’s railings suffered damage amounting to £350 ($474), PA reported.

After a two-week trial, the group were cleared when a jury at Bristol Crown Court returned not guilty verdicts on Wednesday following three hours of deliberations. Loud cheers erupted from the crown court’s public gallery as the four — who opted for their case to be heard by a jury — were cleared.

The defendants had conceded involvement in toppling the statue but said their actions were not criminal because the statue’s presence in the city was an insult to its people.

The statue of Colston had stood in Bristol’s city center since 1895 but had become increasingly controversial, with multiple petitions created to demand its removal.

The Museums of Bristol website describes Colston as a “revered philanthropist / reviled slave trader.” It says he was born in the city in 1636, but spent his working life in London, becoming “an active member of the governing body of the RAC [Royal African Company], which traded in enslaved Africans, for 11 years.”

The site says Colston gave away most of his fortune to charity with restrictions to ensure beneficiaries matched his religious affiliations.

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