Chelsea captain John Terry will find out tomorrow if he's guilty of racially abusing a rival player in a Premier League soccer game.
Terry (31) is accused of calling QPR centre-half Ferdinand a “f***ing black c**t” during a Premier League match on October 23rd last year.
Making his closing speech at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Duncan Penny said on Terry’s account, Ferdinand had used the words “calling me a black c**t”.
Terry claims that he simply repeated back the slur that Ferdinand wrongly thought he had used, and denies a racially aggravated public order offence.
This meant that Terry added the word “f***ing”, and had also used the word "and" before the racial obscenity, Mr Penny said.
“If it’s rhetorical repetition, why does the word ‘and’ feature at all? Why are any other words spoken by Mr Terry at all, beyond a black c**t?,” Mr Penny asked.
Making his closing speech, George Carter-Stephenson QC, for Terry, said that the prosecution case was based on “speculation”.
He said: “This is not a case about racism. The prosecution in cross-examination conceded that he is not a racist. There is an abundance of evidence in this case to prove that fact.
“The way that this case is put is that on this occasion Mr Terry completely lost his cool and made an inappropriate remark making reference to a physical characteristic of Mr Ferdinand, namely his colour, in response to words conceded to have been repeated taunts and insults referring to his alleged affair with Mr [Wayne] Bridge’s partner.”
He told the court there was no direct evidence about what Terry had said, other than the Chelsea defender’s own account.
Mr Carter-Stephenson said Ferdinand was “inconsistent and unreliable both on words and events and could not satisfy the court to the criminal standard”.
He went on: “No matter what the words actually were, if they were or may have been Mr Terry repeating back what he believed Mr Ferdinand had accused him of, then that’s the end of this particular case.”
Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said he would render a judgment tomorrow after defence and prosecution lawyers deliver closing statements on the fourth day of the trial.
Agencies