South African man cleared of racism over N-word rant because ‘it’s OK to say it there’

A South African man who shouted the n-word in the vicinity of former England rugby international Ugo Monye on the way home from a match has been cleared of a public order offence.

Angus Beukes, 32, made the comment at Exeter’s Sandy Park Stadium after the Exeter Chiefs played Gloucester on November 19, 2023.

Former Harlequins player Monye had been commentating at the Premiership match and was leaving for his taxi to the train station at about 5pm.

He described hearing a man with a South African accent repeatedly use the n-word, leaving him ‘extremely shocked’.

In a statement, Monye said: ‘I felt immediately shocked by this as the word is extremely offensive. I heard the word again said as the male went past me. The male stood in front of me and repeated the word again.

‘My first thought was he would have to be drunk to be shouting that word in public. I had a bag over my shoulder. I dropped it on the floor to challenge his behaviour.

‘I said “mate, you can’t be saying that”. I took hold of him at the top of his jacket. We were sort of jostling but it didn’t get any more physical than that.

‘I expected him to apologise. He just seemed to double down.’

Mr Beukes, a mechanic who represented himself at Exeter Magistrates’ Court via video link from South Africa, denied a charge of causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.

He insisted he had been talking to a female friend, who is also South African, and the n-word word is acceptable in their home country.

Mr Beukes told the court he had no idea the word is offensive in the UK – despite having been here for six months at the time.

‘In South Africa, we reprimand each other like that,’ Mr Beukes added.

‘In my country, it doesn’t mean anything. It has no meaning whatsoever.’

Mr Beukes told the court he only used the n-word once, towards his friend, saying ‘My n-word, put your phone away’ as she was causing a bottleneck in the queue of fans waiting to leave the stadium.

Magistrates found him not guilty of the charge, concluding that prosecutors had not proved that Mr Beukes, who is mixed race, knew the word was offensive in Britain.

Presiding justice Paul Doyle said: ‘The onus is on the prosecution to show us that this was the case.

‘We find that they have not demonstrated this beyond reasonable doubt.

‘As these elements have not been fully proved to a satisfactory standard, we find you not guilty of the offence.’

The Chiefs apologised to Monye following the incident, which was investigated by Devon and Cornwall Police.

In a statement released at the time, the Rugby Football Union said it was ‘appalled’ by what happened and pledged its ‘full support’ to Monye.

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