SELBY, United Kingdom, June 16, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The trial began of four young men who tied their workmate to a cross for several hours and painted phallic symbols on his face to mock his Catholic faith.
Three of the four, all employees of Direct Interior Solutions—a maker and installer of office fixtures, admitted the crucifixion to police but claimed it was “banter,” ie, a practical joke, and all four have pled not guilty to aggravated assault and violence by harassment. They also denied their “banter” was motivated by the Catholic faith of the young man, who cannot be named, and pled not guilty to a charge of religiously aggravated assault.
But Crown prosecutor Austin Newman told the court yesterday that the actions taken against the youth “went beyond anything that could reasonably be described as banter or high jinks in the workplace.” Newman also told the court: “We say the cross was indicative of hostility towards the victim based on his religious observance.”
Testifying via a video link, the youth said the crucifixion took place in January, 2015, when two of the accused, Andrew Addison and Christopher Jackson, pinned him and then tied him to a cross constructed by a third accused man, Alex Puchir. The men were reacting to his refusal to let one of them use his cell phone.
“I was then lifted up and put on to the cross and secured on to it,” the teenager said. “I was then put up on to the wall. I remember Chris Jackson saying ‘don't record it because our boss has already seen us do something.’”
“At the time I didn't know what to feel. I felt ashamed. Everyone could see what was happening to me. I was embarrassed.”
“Afterwards I was thinking they were trying to take the mickey out of my religion. Otherwise why was there a cross made?” he testified. But there had been earlier incidents, which had begun when he had told his co-workers that he had not responded to a cell call because he was in a Catholic Church service at the time. After that came a time when he was taking a nap at a worksite and a co-worker painted phallic images on his face with a permanent marker. In another incident one of the four accused attacked him at a London worksite with a can of deodorant, which he turned into a makeshift blowtorch by igniting the spray.
Fear of being fired prevented him from immediately reporting the incidents to his boss or the police, he explained.